Friends in the Snow
by BlackRose1026
Summary: No one is lonelier in the town of Edensburg than Annie Leonhart. New to town, with no parents and no friends, Annie passes her high school days by in solitude, but that all changes when she happens on a mysterious, white-haired girl in the middle of the forest. Annie tries to let her new friend into her heart, but one question lurks in the back of her mind: what is Illya hiding?
1. Annie Leonhart

To most people in the world, winter was just an annoyance. The chill of the season was just something that was complained about but tolerated for the few minutes one was outside. The short days were merely sighed upon in passing until the topic of conversation changed. The snow was just a cause of traffic or delayed trains. Winter didn't matter to most people in this day and age.

For the small town of Edensburg, though, it was a different story. Located in the middle of a forest in Germany, winter always hit Edensburg hard. Anyone stepping outside could feel the frozen cold of winter bite their bones. It snowed so often that the plows couldn't always keep up, and anyone walking would have to trudge through snow halfway up to their shins. The harshness of winter may have been blunted for the rest of the world, but Edensburg still got the season's full, unrelenting fury.

Located a long hour's drive from Munich, Edensburg was mostly isolated. It had a small population of two thousand or so, and rarely received visitors. It was a middle-class town, with most of the residents well off. It had a grocery store, a few restaurants, two schools, and even a movie theater. It was as inconspicuous a town as any in the world.

On a cold day early in January, snow was falling in the village, as usual. It was white and pure, covering everything in the schoolyard in a uniform blanket. There were several inches piled up already, and the storm didn't look like it would be relenting anytime soon. Every now and then the wind would pick up, blowing the falling snow sideways through the air.

From the warmth of her classroom, Annie Leonhart stared out the window, watching the snow fall. She had seen snow fall hundreds of times in her life, yet she always found herself watching the snow whenever it fell. It was a mesmerizing sight, to her, watching the snowflakes lazily dance their way to join the millions upon millions of others already stacked on the ground.

She enjoyed it, but from a distance. She hated actually being in the snow. It was frigid and wet, making her incredibly uncomfortable walking to and from school. The wind snowstorms brought with them were biting and cruel, and she always managed to get snow down her shirt, no matter how much she bundled up.

Unfortunately, it looked likely she'd repeat the experience on her way home from school that day. The forecast said that it would snow until around eleven that night. Walking home would be a pain in the ass, but she'd at least enjoy looking at it from indoors in her seat next to the window while she could.

Around the rest of the classroom, Annie's homeroom classmates were casually chatting with each other while they waited for the teacher to arrive. Like any normal high school, everyone was separated into their own cliques. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were hardly ever apart, now clustered near the front of the room. Jean and Marco were talking to Sasha and Conny nearby. Ymir hardly ever left Christa's side, and Reiner and Bertholdt were talking to each other alone near the back of the room. Various others, whose names Annie didn't remember, were chatting amicably to their closest friends.

As for herself, Annie preferred to keep in silence. She was never one to talk much to begin with, and she didn't have any friends amongst her classmates. From what she understood, the rest of her class had been going to school together for years. She, on the other hand, had only joined the school about four months ago, and didn't know anyone when she came in.

She was completely fine with that arrangement, though. Annie had always been a person who was perfectly fine on her own. She had been on her own for much of her life, and had gotten used to not having anyone to spend time with. Moreover, she preferred it. She liked the idea of being left alone. She didn't need anyone.

"Alright class, settle down," said the teacher, Mr. Schultz, as he walked into the classroom. "My apologies for being late. I had to practically dig my car out of this snow. Now, for roll call."

Schultz dug through his briefcase for his class roster, signaling that it was time for Annie to space out. The list was in alphabetical order, but since she joined the school mid-year her name was just lopped on at the end of the list, instead of the middle where it belonged. It would be at least five minutes before her name was called.

So she continued to watch the snow fall outside. A plow passed by the street that the school was on, clearing some of the snow out of the way. It didn't do that much good, though. The snow was falling so heavily that the street would be back to the way it was before the plow came in no time.

"Annie Leonhart," Mr. Schultz called, reading from his sheet.

Annie turned toward the teacher in surprise. "Oh, uh, I'm here sir."

The stupid teacher didn't call out any names yet, why was he calling on her. It was very rare that she was caught off guard, and it irritated her when she was.

"I'm glad to see you answered the third time I called your name, Miss Leonhart, I was afraid you'd lost your hearing," Schultz told her sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, sir," Annie replied in a low voice. "I wasn't expecting you to call my name so soon." The entire class was staring at her now, which she loathed. She hated being the center of attention.

"I started roll call backwards today to see if you were all paying attention," Schultz explained. "Clearly you were not."

As the teacher continued taking roll call backwards, Annie let out an annoyed sigh. That was all she needed, to be called out in front of the entire class. She could still feel all of the stares that her classmates had given her. They weren't angry stares or anything like that, but any stares sent her way went ill received.

Once the roll call was finished Mr. Schultz began to teach them chemistry. Annie took out her notebook and started taking notes. She was a smart person, something that most people didn't realize about her. Most simply defined her by her tendency to be alone. No one bothered to dig deeper than that, but she was actually very bright.

That didn't change the fact that she hated school and the things she learned there. Useless, in her opinion; just a bunch of stuff that she'd never see again outside the classroom. From the second she entered the school building she ached to leave, and only did as well as she did in class because she had to.

Overall, it was a very dull morning. She just drifting from class to class, following the same routine as every other day. She'd sit, scribble some notes down, get up and move to the next class. She was almost glad when lunchtime came along, giving her a break from the dullness. Almost glad, because she knew what would happen when lunch came along.

There was a group of five boys, none of whose names were known to her, that seemed to get a kick out of her loneliness. They had a competition going on between them, whoever could get her to smile first won. More annoying, they thought she was so dumb that she wouldn't notice.

Usually she just sat there and ignored whichever one of them was taking their crack at her. She absolutely despised it, though, and really wasn't in the mood for it that day. So when she sat down with the lunch, a sandwich she made herself at her house, she sat with a heavy sigh, hoping that somehow what was coming next wasn't coming at all.

As she figured, she was wrong. One of the five morons, a dumb jock with curly blond hair and a smile to make any frilly girl swoon, was sauntering over to her table. She sat in the same table every day, a small one in the corner of the lunchroom, so she wasn't difficult to find.

"Hey Annie," the guy greeted casually, leaning against the table as if he and she had been friends their entire lives. "How's it going?"

"Fine," Annie replied dully, not even looking the guy in the eye. She unwrapped her sandwich and took a small bite, doing her best to pretend he wasn't there. _Maybe if I ignore him, he'll go away_ , a small part of her mind told her. She knew better than that, though.

The guy took a seat opposite her without asking permission, still smiling that irritating smile. In an ordinary situation the guy could be described as acting friendly, in which case Annie might have acted a bit warmer. But she knew that wasn't case, she could clearly see the other four boys sitting at a nearby table chuckling under their breaths.

Annie sighed. "Can I help you?"

"Aww, why are you acting so heartless?" the guy asked in reply, but not seriously. "Would it kill you to smile for me, sweetheart?"

Over at the other table, the four boys were laughing openly, all of them red in the face. Deep in her heart, Annie wanted to walk over there and hurt all of them. She could do it, too; she had some skill in martial arts. She was also a master at burying her emotions and restraining herself, though. Those boys were lucky that was the case.

Instead, Annie did what she was best at: ignoring people. She just concentrated on her sandwich, speeding up the pace of her eating so that she could leave the table sooner.

"Here, maybe this'll help," the guy said. From the edge of her vision, Annie saw the guy reach out with her hand toward her face. He took that large strand of hair that ran down the right side of her face and tucked it behind her ear. Then he reached forward and caressed her cheek, greedy fingers running over her soft skin.

That's when she had enough. They had all tried to flirt with her before, but none of them have touched her before. Before the guy had a chance to retract his hand she grabbed him by the wrist, holding it in an iron grip. The smile was immediately wiped from the guy's smirking face.

"Don't you ever touch me again," Annie growled in a low voice. "How dumb do you think I am? You really thought this whole time I didn't notice your stupid game? Why did you do it, I wonder. Was it because you thought me sitting by myself was funny? Or did you just want to get into my pants? Either way, you should have known you had no shot. I've got not time or patience for lowlifes like you."

While Annie was talking, the guy was more and more desperately trying to break free of her grip. She didn't let him, though. She wanted him to know deep down that she was stronger than he had given her credit for. Finally, once she had finished talking, she released him.

"Freak!" he yelled as he stood up. "No wonder you're always alone!" He stormed off to the table where his friends howled with laughter.

Annie just sat there, staring at her empty hand. _Freak._ Was that what she was? Just because she liked sitting by herself? Just because she didn't smile all that often? Just because she wasn't what everyone considered to be normal? That made her a freak?

 _Of course it does_ , Annie told herself in resignation. _You know this world well enough to know that._

For the second time that day, all the eyes in the room were on her. They all looked at her, as if trying to peer into her very soul, trying to make her squirm. She could stand anything, but if there was one thing that made her extremely uncomfortable, it was stares. Clenching her fists, Annie stood up and left the room at a brisk pace.

Throughout the entire ordeal, no one had come to her. No one came to see if she was okay, if she was feeling alright. She knew better than to get angry about that, though. This wasn't some movie, this was the real world. And in the real world, she was on her own.

Slowly but surely, the day progressed until the final bell of the day rang. It couldn't have come soon enough; Annie was incredibly eager to leave the wretched school. She didn't run out, though. She kept her composure and walked out like a normal person, bundling herself up in a coat and scarf before venturing into the snowstorm.

Her house was on the edge of town, right on the border with the forest that surrounded Edensburg. Every day she walked by a path that led into the woods on the way to and from her house. It wasn't a very wide path, perhaps wide enough for a single car to fit. That didn't matter, because hardly anyone ever followed the path into the woods. The rumor was that an ancient, abandoned castle lay on a hill at the paths end, but no one had actually gone to verify the rumor. Wolves lived deep in that forest, a risk no one wanted to take.

Annie barely gave the path a glance when she passed it by on her way home that afternoon. The first time she laid eyes on it when she moved back to the town three months prior, rumor in mind, she had been slightly awed. Now it was a simple forest pathway to her. Nothing significant about it.

For a fleeting moment, though, she thought she saw something move near the pathway. Annie did a double take. It looked like—looked like a _person._

"Ridiculous," Annie muttered under her breath. "You're the only idiot out in this storm right now."

Redoubling her pace, Annie walked the final quarter-kilometer to her house. She was eager to get inside the comfort of her home to recover from the hellish day she had. She quickly walked through the door and entered, alone in her empty house.

It had been her dad's house, the one where the two of them had lived since Annie was born. She still remembered the good times she and her dad had while they lived here. The two would play together all the time, but Annie had no better time than when the two would play in the snow.

Then, one day ten years ago, when she was six, Annie received word that her father had had a terrible accident. A bus whose brakes had malfunctioned ran over her father in Munich, placing him in critical condition. She was rushed to the city and arrived at the hospital with her father at death's door.

With nowhere else to go, Annie spent the next ten years living at an orphanage in Pasing, a suburb of Munich. It was a hard, friendless life. The keepers of the orphanage provided for her, but were by no means warm toward her. She ached to get out of there, so she finally applied for social welfare from the state a few months back, enabling her to return to her dad's empty house.

She still remembered the last words her dad ever spoke to her, as it dawned on both of them that his time in the world had come to an end. _I will always be with you, Annie. Even if it seems like I'm not, I will always be there. Even if you feel like you're entirely alone in the world, I will be there._

Shedding a single tear, Annie closed the door on the violent snowstorm, sealing herself in her loneliness.


	2. The Girl in the Snow

The next day was Saturday, which Annie was grateful for. She relished the weekend, when she could sleep in and not have to waste her time going to school. She didn't get to fully relax, as Saturday was the day she chose to do her chores, but she didn't mind. Chores such as laundry and cleaning were necessary parts of living on her own, so she had no problem gritting her teeth and doing them.

Annie woke up at around eleven in the morning. Her hair was a disheveled mess and her mouth tasted sour. Outside, the snow had stopped falling, but clouds still covered the sun. The streets and sidewalk were more or less clear of snow, but everything else was still covered by at least ten inches. If Annie had to guess, it was also still frigidly cold out there, too.

With a sign, Annie got up from her bed to get ready for the day. She took a quick, hot shower before getting dressed and washing up. She put her hair up in the bun that she liked, leaving a large, blonde strand falling down the right side of her face and a thinner one on the left. She bundled up in her coat and scarf, putting on her boots for good measure, and headed out of the house.

The first thing Annie always took care of on Saturdays were the groceries. It was the easiest task on her slate, and it allowed her to get out of her house for some fresh air. Not that fresh air during the winter was such a pleasant thing, but being cooped up in her house all day was not something she liked doing.

The grocery store was near the school, so she followed basically the same route that she took yesterday afternoon. The walk was a lot less difficult, for the sidewalk was now clear of snow, the wind had died down, and the temperature had ticked up slightly.

Once again, her short journey took her by the path into the woods. Her interest was piqued this time; part of her wanted to find out if she'd see the same…movement…she saw the prior afternoon. The other part of her dismissed that as nonsense, which was confirmed by a long, hard look at the place. There was no doubt it was completely empty.

Shaking her head, Annie moved on without a second thought…and then stopped dead in her tracks. She heard a sound, a sound coming from the woods where the path was. It was a sound she recognized, unmistakably the sound of someone laughing.

Slowly, and with eyes wide, Annie turned around. There, behind a tree, was a little girl, playing in the snow. She was dressed in a fancy purple coat with golden buttons, and a matching purple hat. Her straight hair was as white as the snow she was playing, matching the white scarf around her neck. Strangest of all, her eyes were _red_.

The girl didn't notice Annie at all. She continued to play in the snow as if she weren't there at all. She seemed to be working on a snow structure of some sort, humming to herself as she built the thing.

Annie, meanwhile, just stared silently, too shocked to react. What should she do? A nine-year-old girl was completely alone on the edge of the forest, without a parent or guardian in sight. Should she report this to the police so that the parents could be found? That seemed like the smartest plan, but something about it rankled. As someone who treasured being left alone, she didn't want to be the person that swarmed this happy girl with cops.

 _But she's_ alone, she reminded herself. _That can't be safe for someone this young._

She decided she would hold off on doing anything until she talked to the girl. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions, it was better to see what the girl's situation was before doing anything.

"Um, excuse me?" Annie asked softly and politely, getting the girl's attention. The girl looked up at her as if noticing her for the first time. She had a very puzzled look on her face.

"Yes?"

"Aren't you getting cold like that?" Annie asked her. It was the simplest question she could think of. She didn't want to immediately blurt out 'where are your parents?'

The girl shook her head with a smile. "I like playing in the snow. Would you like to play with me? I never have anyone to play with."

Annie's instinctively wanted to refuse. The last time she had played in the snow was with her dad. Now that he was gone, she found snow to be cold, wet, and uninviting. She did not derive a shred of joy from it. Yet she didn't want to leave the girl alone; that would be irresponsible.

"Uh, sure," she replied reluctantly. She slowly approached the spot where the girl was playing. "What are you building."

"A snow castle," the girl replied simply. "We should be able to do it; the snow isn't too powdery this time around."

"I suppose," Annie said. She talked about snow like she was some expert, Annie noted. She bent down, shuddering at the sudden cold of the snow around her lower body, and began constructing walls for the castle. "You know, if we're going to build a snow castle together, you should tell me your name."

"You can call me Illya," the girl replied directly. "Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too," Annie replied, surprised at the amount of warmth in her voice. She couldn't remember the last time she had been treated so kindly. "You have a very pretty name, Illya."

"Thanks. What about you?"

"Oh, my name's not all that special," said Annie. "It's just Annie."

"Annie. That's a nice name," Illya replied. "Simple, but nice."

"Thanks," Annie replied. The two continued to build the castle. Illya didn't direct Annie in any way, telling her to shape the castle to whatever her imagination desired. Annie found the silence between them to be slightly awkward, but Illya didn't seem to notice. She just seemed happy to have someone to play with.

"So," Annie began. "What brings you out to the woods by yourself?"

"Hmm?" Illya asked, looking up from the castle. "Oh, I always come here to play in the snow when I get a chance."

"By yourself?"

Illya nodded. "No one else I know likes to play in the snow. I'm usually by myself down here."

Annie was quite shocked. "I'm surprised your parents allow that."

Illy suddenly stopped working on the castle, her hands coming to a complete halt. "My parents," she said slowly, "let's not talk about them."

"Oh, sorry," Annie replied quietly. She wanted to punch herself in the face for being so clueless. How could she not have considered that possibility? Most ordinary people could be forgiven for not thinking of it, but she was herself an orphan. That possibility should have been at the forefront of her mind.

"You know, you can talk to me about it," Annie ventured. She didn't know why she did, she was _never_ this open, but there was something about Illya. She looked so small and frail, it somehow made Annie feel less guarded. "I'm an orphan too, so I understand."

"It's more complicated than that," Illya responded, avoiding Annie's eyes. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Of course," Annie said immediately. "Believe me, I'm the last person in the world that would want to pry into someone's life."

"Thanks," said Illya. "I appreciate that."

She resumed constructing the castle. It was starting to come together. The walls she and Annie built were starting to connect, and the two began working on some towers.

"You're pretty good at this," Illya commented. "I've never actually been able to complete a snow castle before, but with your help I actually might this time."

"Glad to be of service," Annie replied. To her surprise, she found that she was mildly enjoying the activity. The snow was cold and wet and unpleasant, and a small pit of sadness did form in her gut from the memories of her dad, but she found herself able to somewhat ignore all of that. Sitting down and building something, pouring her concentration into the construction, was something that she found to her liking.

As she worked, she glanced back up at Illya. For someone who looked to be about eight or nine, she sure had an excellent vocabulary. Her hand movements were also very refined, not at all like the jerky, sloppy movements of a nine-year-old. The girl was very impressive.

There was one thing that Annie kept getting hung up on, and it wasn't a pleasant thought. There were no orphanages in Edensburg; that's why Annie had to leave town when her father died. That left Annie wondering where it was the girl lived, and dearly hoping that the answer wasn't what she dreaded it was.

"Hey Illya," Annie spoke up. "Do you…do you have a place to stay tonight?"

"Yeah, of course," Illya replied casually. "My grandfather lives nearby."

"Oh, okay, good," Annie exhaled.

"You thought I was homeless?" Illya asked.

"I just wanted to make sure," Annie explained quickly. "I would hate for a girl as young as yourself to be sleeping outside in this bitter cold."

"Don't worry about me," Illya said kindly but firmly. "I can handle myself, trust me."

"Okay," Annie replied uneasily. There was something not right about this girl; she was hiding a lot. She could hardly criticize that, though, for she often did the same thing herself. And the girl was nice enough.

Illya sighed. "Well, we got close, at least," she sighed, looking wistfully down at the nearly-completed castle. "Unfortunately, I have to go back home now. Grandfather doesn't like it when I'm out of the house for too long."

"Are you sure?" Annie asked, looking down at the tower. "It's almost finished, just a few minutes longer and we'll be done."

"It will take me a little while to make it back," Illya replied with a shrug. "I am running a little late as it is." Illya was about to turn away, but turned back at the last moment. "I like you, Annie. Let's do this again, yes?"

"Oh, well…" Annie trailed off. "The thing is, I actually don't like playing in the snow all that much."

"Hmm," Illya mused. "We don't have to play in the snow if you don't want to. Let's meet tomorrow at noon in the park, on one of those benches. I'll see you then!"

Illya turned around without even waiting for Annie to reply. She walked briskly but elegantly to the path that led into the forest and set out on that long, winding way deep into the woods.

Annie stood there just staring at the snow castle for a good five minutes after Illya left. More than half her mind was wondering whether that encounter had actually happened. Part of her eagerly awaited their next meeting in the park tomorrow, while another, smaller part wanted nothing to do with it.

"Just go get your groceries," Annie muttered to herself. All of these conflicting thoughts were giving her a headache; she'd be best served to forget Illya until tomorrow.

As she walked through the snowy town to the grocery store, Annie ran through the list of things she needed to buy in her mind. She was fresh out of milk, cereal, and bread. She also needed to buy some sort of meat; perhaps she'd go with some chicken breast this week. She was also out of tissues and paper towels—

And then it hit her. Illya, she had gone up the path into the forest! On her own!

Banishing her grocery list from her mind, Annie sprinted back toward the path. She hadn't been gone for that long, maybe there was some slight chance Illya was still in sight. _Why did the girl go that way?_ Annie wondered fiercely. _She said she had a home! Was she lying? Is she perhaps mentally challenged?_

None of that mattered right now. The only important thing was to make sure Illya was taken to safety. Her reasons for running headlong into a dangerous forest wouldn't matter if she was reduced to a bloody spot in the snow. _Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could you not have noticed where she went?_

There was no sign of Illya when Annie returned to the pathway. Not a single sign of her. For a brief instant Annie contemplated going in after her, but immediately dismissed the thought. Sure, she wanted to see the girl safe, but she wasn't about to risk her own neck. It wouldn't do anybody good if she died alongside Illya. So she took out her phone and dialed 110.

* * *

"Are you sure you saw this person?"

"Yes, officer," Annie replied. She was back to her calm self, though irritation at the skepticism of this cop was simmering deep inside of her. "We were playing in the snow late this morning, not two hours ago."

"Well," the cop sighed. "We've been combing these woods for over an hour now and have no sign of her. Nor do we have any record of anybody named Illya living in Edensburg."

"I'm not lying, officer," Annie said for the final time in a blunt, cold voice. "I even showed you the snow castle we built."

"All I'm saying is that I can't send my men on a wild goose chase for any longer," the officer replied bluntly. "They searched that wood nice and thorough. If they haven't found a body, then maybe this phantom girl made it out. That's all I have to tell you. Have a nice day, Miss Leonhart." The cop then exited her house and closed the door firmly behind him.

Annie collapsed on her old, worn couch and sighed. She was too tired and worn to be wondering about Illya. Even if she was only nine, she should be smart enough not to wander into the woods on her own. She was done worrying about the young girl; she was ready to fall back to her philosophy of only worrying about herself. Illya had been interesting, even captivating, for a little while, but that time was now over. Like always, she preferred to be alone, anyway.

"Well, it was fun while it lasted, Illya," Annie said aloud. "I hope you're not sitting in the belly of a wolf right now." With that she opened up a book and banished Illya from her mind.

(Note: 110 is the German equivalent of 911)


	3. Cafe Conversations

Annie decided to put off all her chores until the next day, a Sunday. She spent the rest of her Saturday reading one of the books she picked up from the town's library. It was the only thing she had to entertain herself, since she couldn't afford a television, smartphone, or computer.

Annie woke up on Sunday around the same time she did the day prior. She followed the same routine, styling her hair the only way she knew how, and set out for the grocery store. She was able to afford skipping the shopping on Saturday, but if she didn't get groceries today then she would run out of food.

Outside, the snow had only slightly melted. It had been cloudy and below freezing the day before, and the night was only worse. Today it was still piercingly cold, but at least the sun was out, so maybe some of the excess snow would melt away.

Annie took a different route to the grocery store than she did yesterday, for obvious reasons. She did not want to pass by that path again, so she turned in the opposite direction when she left her house, even if it meant taking the longer route to the market. It meant enduring the cold longer, yes, but it was worth it.

Along the way, she saw a few people from her school hanging out at a café she was passing by. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, together as always, although they were joined by Marco and Christa as well. They seemed to be having a good time, chatting lightheartedly as they enjoyed coffee and pastries.

Annie shrugged and moved on. She could never see herself doing something like that. She just wasn't that type of person; she didn't enjoy people's company like other's did. Not to mention that she knew nobody at her school, and no one bothered to reach out to her. And why should they? It's not like she was outgoing to them, either.

The grocery store was near the center of Edensburg, where the library, movie theater, and park were all bunched together. To call it the town square wouldn't be inaccurate. It was Sunday afternoon, so the square was packed with people. Parents and children stuffed the movie theater, and the grocery store looked pretty busy as well. Only the park was empty, save for one girl, as no one wanted to be outside for long in the frigid cold, understandably so.

 _Wait a minute,_ Annie thought, glancing back at the park. The girl that was in there was wearing a nice, white coat with a fur collar, _and she had white hair_.

"You're kidding me," Annie said aloud, loud enough that a person passing her by gave her a look. Annie didn't notice, though. Her eyes and thoughts were all on Illya. A million questions ran through her head, all of it drowned out by the shock she felt that the girl was still alive.

She felt something else, too. Relief, possibly? It was a strange sensation; she wasn't used to feeling relief over someone's well-being. Yet she couldn't deny being somewhat glad that Illya was alive and well. And she had come to the park, waiting on a bench, as she had promised to do.

Annie wasn't sure what to do. She had never been invited by anyone to hang out before; she was usually so removed from other people. Her first instinct was to not go, that's what she probably would have done with anyone else, but she found herself unable to act upon that feeling. There was something different about Illya, something that set her apart from the apathetical people in Annie's life. Maybe it was the fact that Illya seemed to actually give a damn about her, maybe it was something else, but Annie found that she was starting to renege on her dismissal of the white-haired girl.

A short walk later and Annie was entering the park, empty save for her and Illya. The younger girl didn't notice her arrival; instead she seemed to be twirling a stick in her hand. Luckily for both of them, the benches were clear of snow. With an exhale of breath, Annie sat next to Illya on the bench.

"Annie, you made it," Illya stated, looking up at her when she sat down.

"I did," Annie confirmed. "Listen, you have a lot of explaining to do."

Illya cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Why's that?'

"Really?" Annie asked her with a raised eyebrow. "Look, can we at least talk someplace indoors? I'm freezing."

"Hmm, there's a café a couple of blocks down, I think," Illya suggested. "I'm sure a nice cup of coffee would warm you up."

"Works for me," Annie complied.

The two of them made it to the café in short order. It was very packed, but there were a couple of smaller tables open. The two reached one of them and sat before someone took their spot.

As Annie walked in, she saw her schoolmates glance over at her, their eyes betraying a sliver of surprise. This was probably the first time they had seen her outside of school, and perhaps the first time they'd seen her with someone. Annie ignored them, as usual. They could think whatever they wanted to.

Most of the other people in the café didn't spare Annie a single glance, but most did do a double-take of Illya. Such bright, white hair and red eyes were obviously very much unheard of. Illya didn't seem to notice at all, and simply glossed over the menu without a thought to anyone else in the café.

After a couple of minutes, a waitress timidly approached them. She tried to look normal, but her eyes flitted to Illya every couple of seconds. "Have you two decided what you want to order?" she asked.

"I think it'll be a nice, hot tea for me," she stated nonchalantly. "How about you?"

"A coffee, please," Annie replied. "And a strudel."

"Coming right up." The waitress scuttled away from the table a little faster than normal.

"Was it just me or was she acting strangely?" Illya asked.

"Just ignore her," Annie replied simply. "Now, what the hell happened to you yesterday?" She asked the question calmly and coolly. She wasn't angry at Illya or anything, she just felt she had the right to know what happened to her after she had gone to the trouble of starting a police search.

Illya stared silently back at her. "I'm not sure what you mean," she replied slowly. "I went home as soon as I left you and didn't leave until this morning."

"Liar," Annie stated calmly. "I saw you go into the woods."

"Your drinks," the waitress announced, presenting the two women with steaming cups. "Your strudel will be out shortly."

"Thank you," Annie said to the waitress's back, as she already turned and walked away. She turned back to Illya, who was stirring her tea nervously. Her eyes were downcast and she somehow looked paler than before.

"Illya? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, closing her eyes tight. "Listen, can you keep a secret?"

That certainly came out of nowhere. Annie was slightly taken aback by that sudden question, but she recovered quickly. "Of course I can." _It's not like I actually have people to talk to that I'd divulge to._ "What is it?"

Illya continued to nervously stir her tea, staring down at the table. "That path that leads into the forest," she said quietly, "that's actually the way to my house."

At first, Annie thought she misheard her. "What?" she asked. "But that can't be possible. There are no houses in that forest. There's only that old, abandoned—" Annie's eyes lit up. "No way."

Illya nodded. "That's where I live. The manor isn't abandoned at all. My family has lived there for generations."

Annie quickly closed her mouth. She wasn't one to stutter or gape when she was shocked, but that doesn't mean she wasn't shocked. All this time, there had been people living in that castle. And not a single person in town knew about it. It seemed utterly impossible, but there it was.

"How could you keep it all a secret?" Annie asked, almost breathlessly.

"I can't really answer that," Illya replied with a small chuckle. "Let's just say it takes a lot of subterfuge."

"I can only imagine," Annie muttered. "I take it you must be some sort of nobility, then?"

"I guess you can say that," said Illya, still talking in a low voice. "No one knows about us though. The Einzberns are not a famous noble house of the olden days or anything like that."

"The Einzberns," Annie repeated in a near-whisper. It all made sense now. The fancy clothing, the manner in which Illya spoke and acted, it all seemed very noble-like. The strange part was that despite Illya's noble looks and mannerisms, she didn't act nearly as haughty and snotty as Annie would expect of a lady.

"Please, you can't tell anyone," Illya said frantically. "Grandfather will have my hide if word of this gets out—"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Annie assured her bluntly. "I don't exactly have friends that I talk to anyway. Your secret's safe with me."

Illya let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Annie. You're the best."

Annie felt a sudden, unexpected rush of gladness at those last three words, glad that she could be relied upon and glad that Illya appreciated that. Is this what it was like to hang out with someone? Did it always feel this strange? Did it always have this many feels?

"Don't mention it," Annie muttered. "So, I take it you don't go to school?"

Illya shook her head with a sigh of regret. "I'm not really allowed to leave Einzbern Manor at all. I've always wanted to go to school, though."

"Trust me, you're not missing much," Annie assured her. "School sucks. I don't think sitting boredly in a classroom for six hours is something to look forward to."

"True," Illya agreed. "But it would still be nice to go just to get out of my house for a bit. It gets very lonely there."

That last line was said so softly and sadly that Annie would have been tearing up if her heart wasn't stone cold. Even so, she felt a stir of pity in her gut. Trapped in a stone-cold castle practically her entire life with no one but an overbearing grandfather keeping her company.

Strangely, Illya's story made Annie question her own values and actions as well. Unlike Illya, Annie did have the opportunity to go to school and meet new people, yet she squandered it. She had the opportunity that Illya dreamed of having, and she wasn't taking advantage.

 _That's different,_ Annie told herself firmly. _I just don't want that kind of life. I shouldn't be pursuing something I don't want just because someone else can't._ Still, it was bitterly ironic, the situations they were in. Annie, able to socialize but unwilling, and Illya, willing to socialize but unable.

"What do you do to pass the time?" Annie asked her, unable to come up with anything else to say.

"As you can tell, I try to sneak out every once in a while," Illya replied, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Other than that, I read a lot, among other things. I just finished a very famous American book written a few decades ago."

"Which one?" Annie asked. As an avid reader, she was genuinely curious.

" _The Great Gatsby,_ " Illya replied proudly. "I really liked it, too."

Annie was taken aback. "Wow," she said. "That's a very advanced book for someone your age."

Illya's eyes flitted to the table again. "I suppose," she murmured, avoiding Annie's eyes.

Something about her behavior there was odd. Wouldn't someone be proud for accomplishing something unexpected. Wouldn't a nine-year-old girl be happy that she read a book meant for adults and understand it? What was the girl hiding?

"Illya," Annie asked suddenly, on a small, worrisome hunch, "how old are you?"

"F—F—Fourteen," she stuttered in reply. "I'm fourteen."

Annie nearly dropped her cup of coffee. She swore Illya didn't look a day over nine, ten at best. Her voice was too high-pitched and she was too short to be fourteen. Not to mention she was completely, well, flat-chested was the best way to put it. How could she be fourteen.

"Here's your strudel, ma'am," the waitress announced, once again breaking a heavy silence with the arrival of food. "Sorry that took so long; we're slightly backed up at the moment, as you can see. Thank you for waiting patiently."

Annie hardly heard her. She was still looking at Illya, trying to reconcile her age of fourteen with that small body. Illya, meanwhile, was once again stirring her tea with a downcast face. _Stop staring,_ Annie told yourself. _You hate it so much, don't do it to other people._

"So, I guess that's it, isn't it," Illya said suddenly. Her voice didn't break, and there wasn't a single tear in her eye. It was the kind of dead, emotionless sadness that made it all the more melancholy. "You're probably going to leave me too, aren't you. Don't worry, I understand. People like me just don't get to have friends."

"I don't look normal for my age; my mom had strange genes, you could say. Grandfather says I've stopped growing, too. I'll look this freakish as long as I am alive. Perhaps Grandfather was right. Perhaps it is best for me to stay in the manor." She sighed and took a deep sip of her tea. "This was nice while it lasted, Annie.

Annie had no reply, because she was still mulling it over. There was no doubt in her mind that behind the innocence, Illya was hiding some significant, unpleasant secrets. She was not what she seemed, not in the slightest. Perhaps it would be safest to stay away. Whatever was going on up at that castle seemed like something Annie would want no part of. It would be easiest to forget Illya and her how, to do what she did best.

Yet there was one thing that she was hung up on, something that Illya had said. 'I'll look this freakish as long as I live.' _Freakish,_ she had said. The same word used to describe her not that long ago. She almost always made decisions based on what was good for her, and almost never on what was right, but was it right to shut the door on someone just because they were unusual? Whatever the reason Illya looked like how she did, it wasn't her fault.

"Here's, this should cover the whole meal," Illya murmured in a dead voice, laying some cash upon the table as she stood. "I should go."

"Wait," Annie interjected, using a direct tone of voice. "Tomorrow's Monday. I end school at around two-thirty. We'll meet at the park a little while after. I expect you to be there."

Illya's eyes widened like full moons. "What are you—"

"You know why you should leave your manor?" Annie interrupted calmly. "Because you want to, it's that simple. Always do what's in your best interest, Illya. Even if your old hag of a grandfather tells you otherwise."

Illya's breath caught. "Annie…why?"

Annie simply shrugged her shoulders. "I like to judge people by the character," was all she said. "Now if I don't get groceries soon I'm going to starve tonight." She pushed Illya's money toward her and put her own money on the table, enough to pay for her coffee and strudel. Then she stood up to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Hey, Annie?" Illya called as Annie was walking away. "Does this mean we're, you know, friends?"

Annie stopped in her tracks. She paused for a moment, then looked over her shoulder. "If that's what you want to call it." Then she exited the café.


	4. Friends

_Friends._ Annie repeated the word to herself under her breath while she was in homeroom the next day. She rolled the word on her tongue, repeating it a few more times. It was new to her, as she had never really had any friends before in her life. She wasn't sure what to make of it yet, but then, what was the rush?

Around her, the various students of Annie's homeroom were paying various degrees of attention. A few, like Armin, were furiously scribbling down notes as Mr. Schultz drawled on. Most of the others were spacing out or even outwardly dozing off, letting Schultz's dull lecture wash over their heads.

Annie herself was somewhere in between those two positions. She was jotting down some notes, as always, but in a laid back, eased manner. It wasn't just her usual, I-don't-give-a-damn attitude at work, either. She was somewhat distracted today, undeniably thinking about her meeting later today with a certain white-haired girl.

 _Not girl,_ Annie reminded herself, _young woman._

The subject of Illya's true age often came up in her mind, but Annie tried to shove it away whenever it did. She did not want to dwell on that little piece of information, although she couldn't decide why that was. Maybe she wanted to keep to her vow of not holding that against Illya, or maybe it just weirded her out too much.

Out of the corner of her eye, Annie saw Mr. Schultz glance in her direction with a frown, so she immediately picked up the pace of her note writing to give the impression that she was fully engaged in the lesson. She knew he was eyeing her to try and call her out like he did on Friday. There were so many other people in the class that paid far less attention than Annie did, yet the old bastard always picked on her, and never anyone else.

There was nothing to do but suck it up and deal with it, though. School sucked, the teachers were all pompous, the students were all pissants, and there was no changing that. That's just the way it was.

Soon the bell rang, indicating it was time to switch classes. The class immediately erupted into chatter a moment later, cutting the teacher off in the middle of his point. Annie was the first one out of the classroom, as she had no one to linger and chat with. She walked through the hallway to her next class, weaving her way through crowds of people.

As she walked, she caught snippets of conversation that people were having. Most of it was nonsense, or at least to Annie it was nonsense, but she did catch a few words that made her ears perk. Most surprising were the words 'albino girl' that came from two younger kids talking in hushed, excited tones.

 _Could it be they're talking about her?_ Annie wondered. The chances were very likely. Illya was hanging out in the park in full view of the entire town, and a white-haired girl sitting all alone was sure to draw some attention and interest, though not the good kind.

Later on, at lunch, things got even more worrisome. Annie was sitting alone, as usual, eating a salad she put together that morning. She had a book propped up on her lap, struggling to read through the loud chatter of two hundred people in the same room. She was concentrating very hard, though, and so didn't notice the approaching footsteps of three people.

"Hey, Leonhart!" came a rough, angry voice. Annie looked up from her book to see three girls her age approaching her. Each was very pretty, Annie had to admit, but it took a lot of effort for them to get there. Each wore a hairstyle so complex that Annie would never be able to replicate it, and each wore more than enough makeup. Worst of all, each wore a giant, fat smirk as they approached her small table.

"So," the one in the lead, Emilia, said, "who's the albino chick you were with yesterday?"

Annie's eyes widened slightly, but she managed to hide her surprise. She was determined to stay as cool as possible around these three. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on," Emilia insisted, nudging Annie's shoulder roughly. "Practically half the school is talking about it. Everyone wants to know who exactly it was that was willing to become friends with you."

Annie calmly took a sip of her water and didn't reply. Edensburg was a very small town; she wasn't surprised that she was seen by a lot of people at her school. She was only slightly surprised that people would take an interest in what she did with her private life.

"I mean, it is a bit shocking," said Rose, the second girl, her elaborate ginger curls bobbing up and down. "Who would want to be friends with someone who just sits there like a log?"

"Only a freak with old-lady hair and a drab jacket that looks like it was from the 1850s," Emilia shot back. The three of them erupted in a fit of laughter.

Annie just watched them with dead, unfeeling eyes. If they thought she'd be hurt by their comments, they were way off base. She saw right through them; she knew exactly what they were up to. And she found it hilarious. So once their laughter died down, Annie supplanted it with a chuckle of her own.

The smiles were immediately wiped off the girls' faces, replaced by looks of indignant puzzlement. All the while Annie continued to laugh.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rose asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Annie continued to chuckle. "Do you really think I don't know what this is? I see you three hang out with that group of boys that annoy me every day at lunch. That last idiot was probably upset that I unmanned him this past Friday, but he couldn't get back at me himself. So he sent you three to give me some hell, am I right?"

Annie put her salad back in her knapsack and stood up without waiting for a reply. The girls' shocked faces told her everything she needed to know.

"Well, you can tell your friends that you ended up winning their contest. Congratulations." Annie walked away, still chuckling to herself. "And by the way," Annie said over her shoulder, "that 'drab jacket' is probably worth more than your entire wardrobes combined."

She walked away right after that comment, shoulders straight and back arched in an attempt to appear proud and superior. Once she was out of sight, though, her shoulders slouched back to their normal, weary position. Lunch was supposed to be her reprieve from the stupidity of school, but even that was becoming unbearable. Once again, she was left wondering: why couldn't everyone just leave her alone.

A light dusting of snow had begun to fall around the end of lunchtime, and by the time the school day was over the snowfall had increased to a steady rate. Luckily, the snow from Friday's storm was mostly gone, so the sidewalks were walkable, although that would change if the storm continued for long enough. Annie left the building in haste, hoping to avoid the worst of the storm.

Illya was waiting for her on the same bench as the day before. Today she was dressed in a red skirt and jacket, a brilliant color that matched her eyes perfectly. She was smiling pleasantly as she sat on the bench, trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue. She may not actually be nine, but she definitely had a nine-year-old's spirit at times.

"Illya," Annie called through the storm. Illya turned her bright eyes on her as she approached, giving her an enthusiastic wave as she got off the bench.

"Hi Annie!" she said when she reached her. "It's good to see you."

"You too," Annie replied. "Let's get out of this storm. It's supposed to get worse as time moves along."

"I like it, actually," commented Illya. She stretched her hand to corral some snowflakes in her palm. "It's not falling too hard and there's no wind, so the snow can fall pleasantly through the sky. It's pretty, how they dance with each other through the air before falling to the ground. But we can go inside if you want, snowstorms aren't for everyone."

Annie chuckled to herself. "I didn't really think they were anyone, really. Where do you want to go?"

"Hmm, your house?" Illya suggested.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Annie replied hastily. "It's really not that much to behold, and it's a complete mess, and—"

"Your house it is," Illya said firmly, a sly grin on her face. "Come on, I want to see where you live!"

"Fine," Annie grumbled. "Don't get too hyped up, though, it's really not that impressive."

"I'll be the judge of that," said Illya. "Come on, it's this way, isn't it?"

The snow got heavier and the sky got darker as the two of them walked the short distance to Annie's house. They were practically the only ones in the streets, Annie having walked much faster than the crowds initially leaving the school. She was glad for that, she didn't need more people tormenting her about Illya.

 _But there's nothing to be ashamed of, anyhow,_ she told herself. _You can be friends with whoever you want, everyone else be damned._

"By the way," Annie mentioned, "a lot of people saw us yesterday. You might want to be more careful, for the sake of keeping your secret."

"I know," said Illya. "I take that into consideration whenever I sneak out of the manor. It's alright, though; even if the entire town sees me no one would trace me back to the manor. I just look out to see no one sees me on the path."

"Okay, just letting you know," Annie replied. "Edensburg is a small town, word travels fast around here."

"I'm sure it does," said Illya. "Edensburg. Did you know the town is named for my family? Used to be called the Town of Einzbern, Grandfather once told me. Eventually it transformed into Edensburg over the centuries, and everyone living here slowly forgot where the name came from and the family living in the nearby cast."

"You learn new things every day," Annie commented. "Here we are."

Annie's house stood just a block away, in plain sight. Annie sighed inwardly at the sight; she didn't dream that she'd be hosting anyone when she moved back here. The house was completely unsuitable. It was a tiny, one-story house, with just two bedrooms and a single bathroom. The dining room only sat four, and the living room just had a small couch.

Yet Illya's smile widened the moment she laid eyes on the house. "It's so quaint," she praised. "Let's go inside."

On that, at least, Annie agreed, for the snowstorm was starting to get fiercer. Annie hurried to the door, took out her house key, and opened the door. All Annie noticed when she got inside were the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, the two garbage bags that needed to be taken out, and the old, worn couch in the living room.

"I love it!" Illya exclaimed.

"Really?" Annie replied, mildly shocked. "But it's so small, so messy…"

"It's homey," Illya explained. "People always want bigger houses. I live in a big house, and most times it feels like I'm living alone in my own world. Here it's so close and cozy, even if it is a bit tight."

"I'm every bit as alone as you are, trust me," Annie quipped. "I get your point, though. Feel free to come visit whenever you want to. Just warn beforehand so I can clean the place up," she added with a raised eyebrow.

Illya nodded. "Thanks. I have to find a way to get you to visit my house, too. Grandfather wouldn't allow it in a million years, but I might be able to find away."

"That would be…" Annie trailed off. She wasn't sure what to make of that. She couldn't possibly deny that she was curious to go inside that castle. Finding out the truth of the town's most grand and unfounded rumor would make anyone curious. Yet there was something strange about that place, something very unsettling about a place run by a controlling old man who didn't want anyone to know what was going on there.

"Annie, what's in there?"

Annie looked up to see Illya tilting her head and standing on her tippy-toes, trying to look over Annie's shoulder. Annie turned around to see she was trying to peek inside a room whose door was slightly ajar.

"Oh, let me show you," Annie told her. She led Illya to the room and opened the door for her. The room was completely empty, devoid of a bed, a desk, and all other furnishings. The only thing the room contained was a large rug and a soft, foamy, upper-body mannequin attached to a stand.

"This used to be my dad's bedroom," Annie explained. "My dad started teaching me hand-to-hand combat when I was little, before he, you know…Anyway, we could only practice in the summer because of the snow. When I moved back here a few months ago on my own, I sold the furniture in here and moved the dummy inside so I could practice year-round."

"Whoa," Illya whispered, feeling the dummy. "I've never seen one of these before. It looks so realistic."

"It's meant to be," Annie explained. "It's supposed to be as lifelike as possible so that when I practice it's like I'm fighting a real person."

"Hmm," Illya murmured. "So you know hand-to-hand combat, then?"

"Mm-hmm," Annie nodded. "My dad taught me the basics starting when I was four. Young, I know, but I actually caught on quick. I've been self-teaching since. It was hard to find time and space at the orphanage, but I practiced whenever I could. I think I've gotten pretty good at it, by now."

"Do you think…do you think you could teach me?" Illya looked up at her with pleading, hopeful eyes.

Annie was surprised by that question. "What do you want to know hand-to-hand combat for?"

"I have my reasons, actually," Illya replied mysteriously. "But mainly I just think it would be a great way for the two of us to spend time together, doing something that you enjoy."

Annie stared back at her. "You know, Illya, every time I think that you've exhausted your capability to surprise me, you hit me with another surprise."

"Well, I have to keep this friendship interesting, don't I?" Illya replied with a devilish smirk. "I have an even better idea. I'll convince Grandfather to allow you to teach me at Einzbern Manor!"

"Are you sure he'll allow that?" Annie asked with caution. "No offense, but he doesn't seem to be the most welcoming of people."

"You're right," Illya admitted, "and he rules Einzbern Manor with a tight grip. His word is iron, and his orders are steel. Like any metal, he is hard, but he is also malleable. With the right words, I can nudge him to open the manor up to you to give me the lessons."

Annie smirked. "I leave it to you then. When do you think you can convince him by?"

"Tomorrow, maybe," said Illya. "You'll know when I do. Just leave it all to me."

"You got it then, Illya," said Annie. "I'm pretty much free when I'm not in school, so just give me a call." She gave Illya her phone number.

"We don't exactly have phones in the manor, but thank you," said Illya, putting the small piece of paper with Annie's cell number in her pocket.

"No problem," said Annie. "I'm going to make us some food, is there anything you'd prefer I make?"

"Surprise me!"

Annie looked back at Illya and smiled. "Sure thing."


	5. Hot on their Trail

Tuesday was Annie's favorite day of the work week. It was a weird day to have as a favorite; most chose Friday or something like that. For Annie, though, Tuesday was the only day that her classes ended early because she had a break during the last period of the day. Usually Annie could be found itching to get out of the building during the last class of the day, counting down every minute, so the break was very much appreciated.

The unfortunate thing about that particular Tuesday was that Annie had exams in two consecutive classes leading up to that much-coveted break, so she got put through the wringer real hard before she was allowed reprieve. She was not a good test taker; the ability to stay focused and move fast at the same time was not something she had. The whole ordeal of taking one exam left her worn out, much less two.

By the time it was over, Annie was fighting off a serious headache. She wanted nothing more than to get out of the school building and be free for a little while. Unfortunately, the school did not permit anyone to leave the building until the school day was over, so she was consigned to the school's small lounge for forty-five minutes. It wasn't a bad place to relax, actually, as long as it was quiet.

She waited by her locker until the halls were clear so that it'd be easier to walk around. The halls cleared up slowly; most of the students were inside their classrooms by the bell and the late-comers were gone soon afterwards. Once they were all gone Annie moved freely throughout the hallway, brushing the hair out of her eyes with her hands.

As she approached the lounge, she could hear voice coming from inside. The door was closed, so Annie could not tell who was inside or how many people were present, but it didn't sound like a lot of voices. Hopefully they were quiet enough to allow Annie to read her book, or even doze off for a little while.

When she got near the door she got close enough to make out snippets of the sole conversation taking place within the room. It sounded like only three or four people were taking part, raising her hoped of being able to be at peace. She placed her hand on the doorknob and was about to open it when she froze.

"…how does Annie know her?" came a snipped of conversation from inside.

Annie released her hand from the doorknob immediately, hoping none of them noticed that someone was about to enter. Why were people inside talking about her behind her back? She was pretty sure that was Armin's voice. What the hell did she ever do to pique his interest?

"Annie only moved in herself a few months ago." That was Eren. "Maybe they're long-time friends or something."

Annie sighed. More nonsense about her and Illya. The entire school thrown into suspicion over the fact that she had a friend. Was it that shocking? Was it that abnormal?

"Maybe," said Armin, "but that wouldn't explain their conversation in the café on Sunday. What did the girl mean by 'does this mean we're friends?'"

 _They were_ listening _to that?!_ Annie wondered. She supposed they, or at least Illya, was talking too loudly, especially that last comment, but neither of them thought they'd have to be wary of eavesdropping.

Beneath her initial shock, Annie began to boil with anger. Not just annoyance, but anger. It was enough for people to bother her and butt into her life to her face, she didn't need people doing it behind her back as well. Fist clenched, she continued to listen.

"You think they just met that day?" Jean asked.

"It sure sounded like that to me," said Armin confirmed. "Strange right?"

"Can someone remind me why we're caring so much about this?" Mikasa asked in a low voice. "She's just a girl who made friends with someone in our class. What of it?"

"You know, I thought the same thing," replied Armin, "until I connected the dots. Remember back on Saturday when the police conducted a manhunt in the forest to the west of Edensburg? Remember the description of the girl they were looking for?"

"A little girl with white hair and red eyes!" Eren exclaimed. "Do you think it's the same girl?"

"Have you seen any other white-haired girls in town, Jaeger?" Jean mocked.

"Guys, you're missing the most interesting part!" Armin insisted. "The initial report, the one that started the manhunt, came from none other than Annie Leonhart."

Naught but silence met that statement. Annie could practically feel them mulling that over, deep in thought inside that room. She wasn't surprised that Armin was able to ferret that out, he was a very bright person.

"So, what do you think that tells us?" Eren pressed. "Whatever this girl's deal is, you think Annie Leonhart is part of it?"

"I don't know that I'd go that far yet," said Armin. "Let's take it step by step. The police report was filed Saturday, so the two of them knew each other as far back as then. At some point the girl, who according the police report is named Illya, disappears into the woods, triggering the report filed by Annie and the ensuing manhunt. The girl was not found either dead or alive, yet she appears in the town square the next day, unharmed and perfectly sound."

"That right there is enough to make anyone wonder," said Mikasa. "No normal girl her age could possibly survive a night alone in that woods without food or shelter, especially in the heart of winter. It's clear there's something…off about this Illya."

"That's what I'm saying!" Armin replied enthusiastically. "Anyway, she is in the town square the next day, where Annie runs into her. The two then go for coffee and have a long conversation at the café. It's basic logic to assume that Annie would ask her what happened to her and how she's still alive, who wouldn't? And Annie was obviously satisfied with whatever Illya told her, because I saw them walking together yesterday after school!"

"So what you're saying…what you're saying is that Annie is aware of the girl's secret," Eren gasped.

"I think we can confirm that much, yes," said Armin. "Annie would want to know the truth, or she wouldn't continue to spend time with Illya. Annie has to be aware of what the girl's deal is, even if she isn't a part of it."

"You guys are taking this too far," Jean blurted out, trying to appear reasonable. "It's completely possible that the girl just got very, very lucky that day in the forest. Sure, it's unlikely, but not as unlikely that she's hiding some dark secret. What could that secret even possible be?"

"I haven't even explored those possibilities," Armin admitted, "but there's definitely a secret there. Let's say she did get lucky. Let's say she survived the night on pure luck _and_ managed to make her way back to the town. Wouldn't a normal eight-year-old girl in that situation be frightened out of her mind and bawling her eyes out? Illya wasn't like that at all, as a matter of fact she was all smiles when she walked into the café."

"She was good health physically, too," Eren pointed out. "No scratches or cuts. No frostbite or hypothermia. She was perfectly fine. Even her fancy clothes were neat and clean!"

"Maybe…" Armin speculated. "Maybe—"

Armin was cut off as Annie walked into the room, trying to act as normal as she possibly could. She briskly strode to the back of the room and sat on one of the low, cushioned couches that the room contained. She didn't even glance at the group of four that sat off to her right, just as she wouldn't in any normal occasion.

The room went into an immediate silence the moment she walked in, a heavy, awkward silence. This silence wasn't just the absence of noise, but actually felt like a thing of its own, something tangible and stifling. Annie could almost feel it pressing down on her shoulders, threatening to break her back.

She had walked in because the conversation had gone on long enough. Their speculation had gone too far; they had figured out too much and were actually getting near to figuring out truths that she did not want them to discover.

Even more than that, though, she had stopped the conversation because it made her angry. They had no right, none, to involve themselves with what she did with her life and who she spoke to or didn't speak to. _How dare they,_ she thought. _How dare they pry like that. I am not some mystery that needs to be unraveled, and even if I was mysterious, that's none of their business!_

She ached to know what their facial expressions looked like at that moment. She hoped they were wide-eyed with embarrassment and red in the face. She hoped this was may more awkward for them than it was for her. Unfortunately, she couldn't afford to spare even a flickering glance in their direction. Doing so could clue Armin in that she was eavesdropping. She had to act as normal as possible, and that involved acting like they weren't even a thought on her mind.

So she did what she would normally do in this situation. She dug through her bag, pulled out the book she was in the middle of, and began to read it. Or, rather, she pretended to read. It was difficult to concentrate on her book with so many other thoughts on her mind, coupled with the annoying presence of the four people to her right. Even with only four other people in the lounge, somehow she just couldn't be left alone.

"Boy, isn't it nice to have a break right at the end of the day," Armin said nonchalantly. Except that the calmness was clearly forces and sudden. "Especially after two tests in a row."

"They really shouldn't do that," Mikasa muttered. "Two exams in a row is just too much."

"Agreed," said Jean. "I barely had enough energy to make it through that last one."

"My hand felt like it was about to fall off halfway through the second test," added Eren. "It's still numb even now."

"And what about you?" Armin asked. "How did the tests go for you, Annie?"

Annie's eyes widened ever so slightly. Did he just mention her name and loop her into the conversation? An annoyingly clever move on Armin's part. He couldn't confirm that she had been listening, but he was acting as if that was the case. And if so, he wasn't about to let her coast through the rest of the break period without having to say a word. He would put her through the pressure cooker first.

 _Well, if he wants to test my façade, let him crack away,_ Annie thought determinedly.

"Excuse me?" Annie asked in a low voice, turning toward the group. Armin was putting up a pleasant smile, and Mikasa wore her usual stoic face, but Eren and Jean had nervous eyes. They were just as taken aback by Armin's question as Annie was.

"How did you fare in the two tests we just took?" Armin repeated.

Annie shrugged, turning back to her book. "I was fine." A good response. Short, curt, and uninterested. In other words, something she would normally say.

"That's good to hear," said Armin cheerily. "It's a relief that it's over. I can't wait to relax later today. I think we all deserve it, right?"

A moment of silence. Then, "oh, yeah, of course!" said Eren, too quickly and too loudly. "Those two periods were murder."

"What do you do to relax after school, Annie?" Armin asked.

"I read," Annie quipped without looking up. She punctuated her reply with a particularly loud page-flip.

"I can see," said Armin. "I'm sure that's not all you do, though."

"I do hand-to-hand combat," Annie drawled. This whole conversation was meaningless. Clearly, she was holding up very well, so why was Armin dragging this out? What was he getting at?

"That must be exhausting," Armin commented with a light chuckle. "If you ever want to take a break you can always spend some time after school with us. Not all of us can always make it, but there's usually at least some of us that go grab some food after school. Why don't you come along with the four of us this afternoon?"

"I can't," replied Annie. "I'm busy, actually."

"Oh, okay," said Armin, doing best to sound disappointed. "Maybe another time?"

"We'll see," Annie said. Inwardly, she sighed a sigh of relief, but also one mixed with anger. He was trying to use her, plain and simple. He didn't actually want to spend time with her; he didn't actually enjoy her company. And why would he? She wasn't exactly an outgoing person. But to act under pretense just to get information out of her, that was where she got angry.

Once again, it all boiled down to one thing and one thing only: nobody could ever leave her alone. All this conniving from Armin just to extract information about who she associated with and everything else she did with her life. Did it matter so much to everyone what she did and who she liked to spend time with?

And Illya, for goodness sake. The poor girl can't escape scrutiny no matter where she turned. All because she had strange hair and strange eyes, and dressed in unusual garments. Was it strange? Yes. Did it warrant curiosity? Perhaps a small amount. But to go to such lengths to discover the truth about a simple girl was ridiculous.

Annie had a completely opposite view than Armin. She was closer to Illya than he, and had many more opportunities to pry, but she didn't, not at all. Because she respected the privacy of others. She hated when people pried, so she didn't do the same herself to others. It just wasn't right.

At this point there were only about two minutes left before the final bell of the day rang and she'd be allowed to leave, so she placed her unread book back in her bag and made to leave. She was tired of this room and the people in it, anyway, and was looking forward to being alone at home again.

She stood up from the couch and was about to make for the door when someone burst in with an alarmed look on his face. He was a skinny man of average height, with dark hair that had grey at the sides. The eyes behind his rectangular glasses were wide and serious. Annie had only previously seen him from far away, but she still recognized the man as the principal of the school, Karl Haas.

"I was told Miss Annie Leonhart was in here," he said.

"That's me," Annie replied, startled.

"Miss Leonhart," he said, "there's someone here for you."


	6. Old Man Acht

Principal Haas led Annie through the halls of the school at a quick pace. The rigidness of his gait clued her in as to how serious the situation seemed to be, but she didn't have a clue as to why. Yet she was immensely curious herself. Who had come to visit her? She didn't know anybody in this town.

A horde of students line both sides of the halls as she walked down. Most of were chattering among themselves excitedly, stopping only to turn their heads toward Annie as she passed by. Once again, she was the center of attention, once again she was in the spotlight of everyone's stares, and it made her writhe with discomfort. Moreover, Armin was following them from a distance, with Mikasa, Eren, and Jean, watching her like a hawk.

"Sir," Annie asked, "who is it that's here for me, exactly?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me," Hass answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "They are very…interesting…to say the least. You make strange acquaintances, Annie Leonhart."

 _Strange acquaintances_ , Annie repeated in her head. _Could it be…_

The two of them rounded a corner and found the entrance hall to the school packed with people. More students than Annie thought could possibly fit in the corridor stood against the walls, each craning their necks to get a view over the person in front of them. Toward the center were some teachers, trying to keep the students from flooding into the path in the middle of the room. And by the entrance to the building stood one of the strangest-looking people Annie had ever seen.

The woman was tall, but slim and petite. She wore a servant's outfit that stretched from head-to-toe, consisting of a white blouse and puffy, ankle-length skirt with black hem, coupled with a black bodice. She also wore a very odd, three-pointed headdress, also white in color, that completely encircled her face down to her neck, with a black headband. Besides her face, from her chin to the middle of her forehead, not a shred of her skin was visible.

But the most shocking aspect about the woman was her eyes. Deep, piercing, red eyes, just like Illya.

As soon as Annie arrived in the hall, the crowd created a large space around her. At the same time, the woman trained those red eyes right on her. She seemed to be considering her, weighing Annie in her mind.

"You are the one they call Annie Leonhart, yes?" she finally concluded.

"That's right," Annie replied softly, unsure of what else to reply to that strange remark.

"I bring summons from the Master whom I serve," she said in a serious, formal tone. "I was told to come to this establishment and collect you at this exact time, two-thirty in the afternoon. If you are ready, we shall depart."

Annie looked around the room nervously. The large crowd was dead silent now, staring at her with eyes that were too interested for her comfort. A pang of annoyance rose within her, directed at a certain white-haired girl she knew. Did she really have to be this ridiculous in bringing her to her manor for a stupid martial arts lesson?

"Miss Leonhart?" the woman called.

"Oh…yes, I am ready," Annie muttered. She looked straight ahead as she headed out the door, avoiding the eyes of everyone in the room. If half the school was talking about this before today, the other half would catch on very soon after watching what just happened. Even the least curious would wonder who Illya was, who the servant was, and why Annie was wrapped up in the middle of it all.

Outside the school, Annie froze in her tracks as she gazed upon the limousine parked in front of the school. A small crowd of people had gathered at a distance from the limousine; such a car was never seen around this town. "After you," the servant said, holding the door open for her.

With the eyes of the entire school at her back, Annie reluctantly stepped out of the snowstorm and into the limo. It was absolutely luxurious inside, with black leather seats and cool refreshments to eat and drink. The windows were heavily tinted too, offering Annie much needed relief from the stares of her schoolmates.

"Hello there!" said a voice from the front of the limo. Sitting in the passenger's seat was another servant. She was nearly an exact copy of the first servant, with the same height, same exact outfit, and the same eyes. The only difference was that two pale curls of hair extended out from the headdress and extended down to just above her shoulders. Annie just gave a simple wave of her hand in reply to her greeting.

"Alright, let's go," said the first servant, climbing into the driver's seat. "I apologize for that, Miss Leonhart. Leysritt and I were simply told by our Master to pick you up and bring you to Einzbern Manor. I was not expecting such a commotion."

"That's okay," Annie replied, a little hastily. "There was nothing you could have done about it, I suppose. I'll have a talk with Illya to tell her that this is not necessary."

"We weren't sent by Illya," the first servant clarified. "Your lessons with her have been approved, on the condition that you speak with Lord Jubstacheit immediately upon your arrival today. He was the one who sent us."

"But Sella and I are in fact Illya's servants," Leysritt piped up in that light voice of hers. "We do love her very much."

"Wait," said Annie. "This Lord Jub—Jub—"

"Jubstacheit," Sella provided.

"Yes, him," said Annie. "Is he Illya's grandfather?"

"Yep," said Leysritt. "Illya's grandfather and head of the Einzbern family."

"Oh," Annie said nervously. So she would finally be meeting Illya's grandfather, the one who insisted she be trapped in her castle like a bird in a cage. Based on Illya's descriptions, he was not a man to be trifled with. One wrong word could result in some fairly negative consequences. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire," she muttered to herself.

Once the limousine had left the vicinity of the school the streets became their usual empty selves. Annie half expected the crowd to start following the limo, but thankfully they did not. By the time they reached the path there was nobody in sight, as was usual, allowing Sella to turn onto the dirt road and quickly accelerate away from Edensburg.

As the limo rolled on through the woods, Annie paused her dwelling on her current situation to admire the woods. The rumors of the town began to leak back into her mind, and now she was about to experience the amazing truth. She couldn't even begin to imagine what this manor would look like, but she was sure it would be magnificent.

It did not disappoint. Twenty minutes after turning onto the dirt road the castle appeared, emerging from the fierce snowfall that hid it. The grand, brick and mortar castle stood atop a small, forest-covered hill, and dominated it. Every inch of the hilltop was covered by the castle's tall towers, wide halls, and broad columns. It was truly an impressive sight.

The castle had no driveway, being as old as it was, so Sella just pulled up somewhere close to the grand, iron-wrought door. Leysritt got out of the car first and opened the door for Annie, offering her a hand to help her rise. Annie took it, and stepped onto the snow-covered castle grounds.

"Come on now," Leysritt said cheerily. "We mustn't keep Lord Jubstacheit waiting."

Leysritt led the way through the castle, through its wide, high-ceilinged halls and up a grand, stone staircase. Annie followed her, and Sella took the rear. Various pictures lined the walls, all of them portraying a white-haired woman with red eyes that looked like an older version of Illya. The woman in each of them was stunningly beautiful, wearing shiny white robes with red tassels and a stellar golden crown, but having so many pictures of her was slightly creepy.

As soon as the three of them rose to the top of the stairwell Annie saw Illya running down the hallway toward them. Her legs were short, rendering her running a bit slow, but she pushed as fast as she could. Her hair was unusually frazzled and she had an alarmed, urgent look on her face.

Leysritt and Sella did not stop walking when Illya reached them, so she just fell in beside Annie, red-faced and short-winded.

"Annie, I'm so sorry," Illya panted. "I didn't think he would summon you so soon, and so quickly! I would have warned you, otherwise."

"Don't worry about it," Annie replied firmly. "I'll be fine."

"Just answer his questions as truthfully as you can," Illya advised. "Be deferential in how you act toward him. I know it might hurt your pride to do that, but you have to make it clear that you know your place. It is wise not speak until spoken to in his presence, and under no circumstances should you ever question him or his actions!" Illya smiled faintly. "I have no doubt you'll be fine. Good luck!"

Just as suddenly as she appeared, Illya fell away, leaving Annie, Leysritt, and Sella to their brisk walk. Annie looked back at her as the three of them rounded a corner and watched Illya disappear behind it. A moment later Leysritt stopped in front of another set of double doors. Sella joined her, and the two of them opened the door.

"Lord Jubstacheit, I present to you Annie Leonhart," Sella announced. She indicated to Annie to enter the room with a flick of her head, which she did. Then the two promptly closed the door, leaving Annie alone in the room.

Looking around, she saw that she was in a large, grand chapel. White columns lined the room to either side, while wooden benches with red leather cushions stood between them. Stained glass windows looked down on the chapel from high above. A broad, central aisle led to a plain, white altar, with two elaborate candelabras to either side.

Standing behind the altar, with his back to Annie, was a man. He was tall and large, in a looming, impressive way. His hair, like his granddaughter's, was pure white, though in his case it was clearly due to age. His hair stretched down past his shoulder blades. He was wearing a white robe, one that looked plain but was elaborately woven with golden embroidery.

The man turned around, revealing his face to Annie. It was a stern, hard face, with firmly etched lines that imposed. The man had a long, forked beard and a permanent frown. Annie could see no resemblance to Illya at all; not even their eyes looked the same, with Illya's being a bright red and his being a cold black.

As soon as the man turned around to face her, Annie gave her a curt, quick bow. She knew nothing of how to deal with nobility outside of what Illya told her, but she thought that bowing was a good start. Lord Jubstacheit's face did not change, so Annie could only assume that she hadn't impressed him, but she hadn't messed up either.

"So," Jubstacheit said in a deep voice. "You are the one Illyasviel told me about yesterday, the one that she befriended. What was your name again?"

"Annie, Lord Jubstacheit," she replied. "Annie Leonhart."

"Annie," Jubstacheit repeated. "You can call me Acht."

Annie nodded her head once, but didn't reply. She hated this. She hated being so subservient. It reminded her of her time at the orphanage, where she was forced to obey her elders, and severely punished when she didn't. She accepted the concept, but the patrons of the orphanage took it way too far, and that was minor compared to the way she had to act around Jubstacheit, or Acht.

Yet she just gritted her teeth and did it, per Illya's advice. She knew better than anyone how to deal with this man. She warned her that it would be unpleasant, but implored her to do it anyway, so that's what Annie would do. She didn't want to get in trouble, and she definitely didn't want to get Illya in trouble either.

"How did you come to meet Illyasviel exactly?" Acht implored.

"I found her playing by herself in the snow on Saturday," Annie answered honestly. "She was by the Edensburg end of the road leading to your manor. She looked so small and lonely, so I called out to her, and ended up playing with her. We ended up becoming friendly.

"I see," Acht mused, stroking his beard. "What a stupid girl, disobeying my orders to keep to the manor. She risked our exposure with her actions; as a matter of fact, she did expose us, to you. She has potential, so much great potential in her if she would only do as she was told. It's her _father_ ; it's his treacherous blood that runs through her veins. But I digress."

 _Yeah, you really do digress,_ Annie thought. She didn't comprehend half of Acht's ramblings. What sort of potential did Illya have? And her father betrayed Acht in some way? What was that about? If there was one thing she did understand, though, it was how dismissive and crass Acht was toward his granddaughter, and it made Annie's blood boil.

"So, Annie, you are now privy to the secret of this manor because Illya told you," Acht continued. "She also claims you haven't told a soul what you have discovered. Is that true?"

"It is."

"And am I just to simply believe you?"

"Well, honestly speaking, Illya is my only friend," Annie admitted firmly. "I do not speak to anybody else if I can help it. I only moved back to Edensburg in October, and I live alone. Furthermore, if the town was aware of your presence in the castle, I think the forest would be swarming with people now."

A cold smile creeped onto Acht's face. "You are clever. I like to see cleverness in a person, as long as they're not too clever, that is." Acht moved from his position at the altar and began to slowly saunter around the room. "You know not to divulge this secret, correct?"

"Of course," replied Annie.

"And how can I be sure you will keep to that vow?" Jubstacheit pressed. "I cannot watch over you constantly since you live outside the castle grounds. Perhaps it is best if you simply live here from now on."

"No!" Annie burst out suddenly

Acht turned to Annie and gave her a severe look.

"I mean, Lord Acht, I truly don't believe that is necessary," said Annie in a humble tone. "You have my word that your secret is safe with me. Every time I come here I will make sure nobody is watching before going through the forest. And like I said, I don't talk to anybody except Illya."

Acht gave her a long, hard, contemplative stare. He looked like he was considering Annie's offer very deeply, but Annie suspected he was just taking long to make her squirm in nervousness under his gaze. It grated her that it was working.

"You wish me to trust you on this," Acht finally said. "Very well. But know that my trust is a precious, valuable thing, rarely given out in recent years. I gave my trust to the last outsider to come within these walls as well. He broke that trust, and he suffered great consequences."

It was all Annie could do not to gulp at that warning. She had always been good at burying her emotions, but this time it took all the willpower she had. Illya was right, Acht's word was iron, and his orders steel. In the outside world no one had a clue who he was, but in his castle, he ruled with an iron fist.

"Now, these combat lessons," Acht continued. "I think they will be very useful for Illyasviel. She may very well need them in the…in the years to come. You will come twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays, directly after you finish up your day at that school of yours. Now, as a matter of payment, how much do these lessons usually cost?"

"Payment? I really don't know, sir…50 euros, maybe?"

"Hmm, I'll make it 200," said Acht. "I have nothing more to discuss with you. You are dismissed. Leysritt!" The double door opened immediately to admit the pale-haired servant. "Take Miss Leonhart to Illyasviel's quarters. There should be ample space there to practice combat."

"Of course, my lord," Leysritt replied. She beckoned Annie to follow her and left the room. Annie bowed once more to Lord Acht before following Leysritt out of the chapel.

"And one last thing," Acht commanded as she walked out the door. "You are not to wander the manor. Ever."


	7. A Rock and a Hard Place

"Well, how did it go?" Illya implored. The two were sitting in Illya's room, Annie just having arrived after her conversation with Lord Acht. Illya was on her bed, casually kicking her legs as she waited for Annie's reply. Annie, meanwhile, felt like she just went through a blender. She sat motionless on a wooden chair, hands in her lap.

"I suppose it went well," Annie said slowly. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are," Illya agreed with a vigorous nod. "I knew you'd be fine. You can keep your cool under pressure better than anyone I know."

"Yeah, because you know so many people," Annie muttered. Apparently Illya heard her, because she began to chuckle at the sarcasm.

"That joke was aimed at you, you know," Annie mentioned.

"I know," Illya replied with a smile. "So, tell me. What did he ask?"

"He asked what you'd expect," Annie replied with a shrug. "He asked how I met you, whether I had told anyone of the Einzberns' presence here, and he swore me to secrecy. For your grandfather, he doesn't have a very high opinion of you at times, by the way."

Illya's face hardened, and her eyes grew sad. "Well, he's just a very tough person, I suppose."

"Even so, he treats you like crap, Illya. He calls you stupid girl, he doesn't let you leave the house because he doesn't trust you to keep a dumb secret. It's not right."

"But that's the way it is," Illya replied sadly. She closed her eyes and clenched her fist. "That's the way it has to be."

Annie wanted to protest more, but the look on Illya's face made her stop. Clearly, she did not want Annie to continue to object to her situation. Once again, it felt like Illya was hiding something. But, keeping to her principles, Annie did not pry.

"I'm sorry," Illya said after a moment of awkward silence. "I didn't mean to react like that. It's just…these are circumstances beyond your knowledge or control, Annie, and I can't divulge to you, however much I want to. Grandfather may seem rough, spiteful, even cruel, but it is for a purpose. A purpose I must share."

She must have seen the perplexed expression on Annie's face, because she smiled sadly. "I bet that didn't make any sense."

"Not really," said Annie with a casual shrug. "But I assume you can't explain that either, so I won't ask."

"Thanks," said Illya appreciatively. "And don't fall under the impression that I don't appreciate your words. I do. I know I've put you in a tough spot, having to deal with Grandfather. I really appreciate you going to such lengths for me. If you want to back out at any time, I'll understand."

"Don't be silly," Annie replied without hesitation. "I want to do this, and do I seem the type of person that let's others get in the way of what I want?"

"Of course not, how silly of me to even suggest such," declared Illya.

Annie laughed, and some of the tension in her shoulders eased. It had been a long time since she had been this amiable and cheerful, probably as long ago as the days when her father was still around. It was strange to be laughing so openly, but she found that she missed the feeling.

"By the way," said Annie, turning slightly serious, "we have a bit of a problem on our hands that we need to work through."

Illya cocked her head. "What sort of problem? Something to do with Grandfather?"

"Well, sort of," said Annie. "It has more to do with the Einzbern secret in general. I think someone's onto it."

Illya's eyes widened considerably. "Who? You said you didn't talk to anybody about me or where I live."

"And I didn't," Annie assured her quickly. "At least…not after I found out the truth." Annie averted her eyes to the floor. "I may have, though, filed a police report the day I met you."

Illya looked horror stricken. "What?" she whispered.

"I didn't know you at all at the time," Annie said quickly, trying to defend herself. "I just thought you were a lost little girl who disappeared into the woods. I only told them that, along with your description. Nothing else, I promise!"

"So then…so then how are we at risk of exposure?"

"A kid at my school," Annie explained. "He's a smart, clever guy, and unlike me he's unafraid to pry into the affairs of others to get to the bottom of a mystery. He managed to deduce some things. He was at the same café at the same time as us on Sunday, and matched you to the description of the girl in the police report."

"Okay, that doesn't mean much," Illya stated, half to her and half to herself. "He still doesn't know me as anything more than a strange girl."

"A very strange girl, to his mind, I'm sure," said Annie. "Luckily I eavesdropped on a conversation he was having with his friends. There's one question that he's pondering that worries me: how it is that you, who he perceives to be an eight-year-old, survived a night alone in the forest, completely unscathed.

"Luckily, he seems to be stuck on that question," Annie continued. "The most logical explanation to the mystery is that you had shelter of some kind, how else could you emerge without a scratch? Yet the lack of any shelter in the forest is so unlikely, to his mind, that he can't accept that answer, and he has yet to come up with another. But how long until he realizes that his first explanation is the only possibility? That leaves him dangerously close to the truth, no?"

Illya furrowed her eyebrows, a troubled look on her face, but one determined to find a solution. It was strange for Annie to see a girl that looked so young actually comprehend her long-winded explanations and ponder solutions. She had to keep reminding herself every now and then that Illya was actually fourteen, and an intelligent fourteen at that.

"I think we still might be worrying too much about this," she finally concluded. "You're right that he's advanced pretty far in his speculations. But it seems to me that his progress stops here. Even if he comes to the only possible conclusion, that I found shelter in the woods protective enough to shield me from wolves and winter's chill, he still has no way of knowing what that shelter is. His evidence is all circumstantial; there is no definitive proof he can point to that shows that a shelter exists in the woods, much less a manor."

"I guess you're right about that," Annie admitted. "There is an old town rumor about the presence of a castle in the forest, though no one believes it. I don't think he's ready to consider that rumor just yet. No, you're right, he won't be able to figure it out without more information."

"Which he'll never get," said Illya.

"Right," Annie agreed. "Although he'll try. He'll try very hard to dig up some more info. And right now, I'm his only possible outlet. He's deduced that I know about your secret, so I expect him to hound me, although he'll be discreet. You know that my lips are sealed, but I have to be extra careful around him. Like I said, he's clever, and will try some sneaky tactics to get me to unwittingly spill something I shouldn't.

"Also, both of us need to be more careful in the future. It was a combination of actions taken by us, with unforeseen consequences, that led us to this point. A lot of people saw us together in town, Illya, and most of the people at my school are wondering who my new friend is. Your father's fancy entourage earlier today didn't help matters. We can still hang out in town, but we shouldn't be seen with each other by the path ever again. We have to be super careful when traversing it."

"Do you think this boy at your school would stoop so low as to follow us?"

"No, I don't," Annie answered honestly. "He's not a _bad_ person, per se, just very annoying, like everyone else at my school. Still, we can't afford to be associated with the woods any more than we already are."

Illya sighed and collapsed on the bed. "This shouldn't be this complicated," she moaned.

"Can't be helped," Annie shrugged. "I didn't mention any of this to your Grandfather, by the way. If he found out he'd never let you see me again, and both of us would be in a boiling pot of crap."

"It's probably best he never knows about this boy at your school, or about your police report," Illya concurred, sitting back up. "If he finds out, it will be like you said. We'll both end up in…"

"A boiling pot of crap," Annie finished.

"Yeah, that," said Illya. "He won't take it well, that's for sure. If we do go to him, he _can_ solve the problem, but not without chewing us out first."

It was an option, Annie had to concede, but not one worth taking, at least not now. The two were stuck between a rock and a hard place on this. To their left, Armin and his little gang of friends were hounding them like a pack of dogs. To their right, Lord Acht loomed like a barbed fence; they could climb over to safety, but not without getting cut.

"I think we can handle it ourselves, for now," Annie replied. "You're right that my classmate, Armin, is stuck right now, and won't get any more information if I play my cards right. Right now, he's the easiest to handle. We'll go to Acht only when Armin gets very close to discovering the truth."

"Which is never, hopefully," Illya added. "Now, as much as I love talking about strategy, can we get started on hand-to-hand combat now?"

* * *

An hour later, Illya collapsed on the couch in her antechamber, breathing heavily. Sweat poured down her cheeks and her entire face was red with exhaustion. It was a strange look for her; she was usually so pale and cool, like the snow she loved so dearly. She was never so hot and winded.

Annie, meanwhile, hardly broke a sweat. The basics that she taught Illya today were obviously well beneath her skill level, and the lesson wasn't vigorous at all. She was calmly leaning against the wall, watching as Illya eagerly sipped water from a cup.

"Well?" she asked from the couch, looking at Annie expectantly. "How did I do?"

"You did pretty well, I think," Annie replied, "for a beginner. This lesson wasn't all that challenging, to be honest." Annie had stuck to the basics today, introducing Illya to some very simple defense positions and techniques."

"Good enough for me," Illya exhaled, drinking more water.

"I'll be honest with you, though," Annie continued, face extremely serious. "The fact that you're so winded right now is very concerning."

Illya's smile slipped from her face. "But that was very exhaustive," she claimed.

"Not really. Not at all, actually. Do you see me sweating?"

"Well, no…"

For the first time in a while, Annie was reminded as to how frail Illya really was. She was extremely thin, and always pale, and very, _very_ small and short for her age. That was probably why Illya found herself so tired after a simple, light workout.

"Listen, Illya," said Annie. "What we did today should not have tired you out like this. You'll have to build up your stamina if you want to keep learning."

"Okay…what should I do?"

"Go jogging, that's the easiest thing to do," answered Annie. "Do a mile or two every day. Heck, you can even walk it if you want."

"Would you do it with me?" Illya asked with pleading eyes. "Walking two miles on my own would be very lonely."

"Sure, I don't mind," said Annie. "I jog pretty often anyway; I suppose it would be nice to have your company."

"Thank you!" Illya exclaimed. "You're a great teacher, you know."

Annie's eyes flitted to the floor. She was very rarely praised for anything; she hoped she wasn't blushing. "It's nothing, really," she muttered. "Please, don't mention it."

"Whatever you say," Illya conceded. "Why don't I get us something to eat? I'll go fetch Leysritt."

Illya left the room in an instant, leaving Annie alone. They had practiced in Illya's antechamber, as it was wider and more spacious that the actual bedroom. Leysritt and Sella had helped push the two couches against the wall so that Annie and Illy would have enough room.

Aside for the two couches and a desk with many drawers, the room was empty, save for a sole picture hanging on the wall. Like every other picture in the manor, this one was a portrait of the same beautiful, pale-haired woman. The only difference was that in this particular photo the woman was dressed in a fur coat and hat, and wore a bright smile instead of a serious frown.

It was striking how similar the woman looked to Illya. It wasn't just the hair and the eyes; the two faces were the same as well. Now that Annie was able to get a good look, she realized that Leysritt and Sella looked like the woman as well, and scarily so. The similarities stretched well beyond a mere family resemblance.

"Who is this person?" Annie asked aloud to herself.

"That's my mother," Illya replied from the doorway.

Annie jumped. Illya had approached so quietly that she hadn't heard her, and Annie wasn't someone that a person could sneak up to easily.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Annie said quickly. "I didn't mean to pry, I was just wondering—"

"Don't worry about it," Illya assured her. "Yep, that's my mother, Irisviel von Einzbern."

"That definitely explains a lot," said Annie. "She looks so much like you, Illya."

"Yeah, she does," Illya replied, her face glowing. "She was amazing."

"I have no doubt," said Annie. "She must have been very important to have her picture on practically every wall in this castle."

Illya gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean, every wall? This is the only picture of her in the manor…wait, you must mean Justeaze."

"Justeaze?"

"I suppose you can call her my aunt," Illya said slowly. "She was very important to the family, but she died well before I was born."

"I'm sorry," said Annie. "If it makes you feel better, I prefer the picture of your mother. They both look the same, but your aunt's is a cold beauty. Your mother seemed so much warmer and kinder."

"She was warm and kind," Illya agreed, the slightest bit of moisture in her eyes. "It's been six years since she passed away, but I still miss her very much."

Illya didn't cry, she just stared at the picture with a stony face. Annie watched her and knew that a good friend would say something comforting and helpful.

"I'm sure you still miss her," she said gently, "and I'm sure it's hard at times. Instead of lamenting her, be grateful for the good times you've had with her. I didn't get to know my mother."

Annie didn't know why she had chosen to reveal that piece of private information, but it seemed like the right thing to say. It didn't sting to say it, either. Her mother had died giving birth to her, so she didn't have any relationship to mourn over.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Illya.

"Don't be, life is life," said Annie bluntly. "I've made my peace with my situation."

"I'm glad to hear it," said Illya. "But that doesn't mean you have to completely put her behind you. You can still make your peace and leave room to miss her."

Annie looked down at her friend, who was looking back at her with big eyes. Then she turned away and clenched her fist. "I'm fine the way I am, Illya. Trust me."

Illya didn't reply at first, instead she just continued to look up at Annie. "If you say so, I believe you," she finally said slowly. "Just know that I'm there for you, okay?"

 _There for me,_ Annie thought. It was a strange expression, hardly ever uttered by her or to her. Whenever she heard it spoken to her, she never would believe it. It was an expression that had turned on her many times over the past ten years. But now, coming from someone like Illya, Annie felt in her gut like it was to be believed.

"I'm—I'm here for you too."


	8. A Brief Meeting

In stark contrast to the first few days after Annie met Illya, the following couple of weeks passed by without much change or incident. Annie continued to go to school each weekday by herself and deal with the various annoyances that she'd been dealing with all her life. On the weekends she still did her chores and spent time reading and exercising.

She and Illya saw each other almost every day, mostly in Edensburg. Annie finally found out how Illya was sneaking out of the manor (Leysritt was driving her down the road each time, behind Acht and Sella's backs). The two met straight after school to do the two miles of walking that Annie prescribed, then went to grab food either at Annie's house or at a local restaurant.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Annie would walk half a mile up the path in the forest, where she would meet Sella in the sleek limousine to drive her the rest of the way to Einzbern Manor. There, she would spend an hour instructing Illya in hand-to-hand combat. Illya's progress was extremely slow, Annie had to admit, but it was there. And it couldn't be said that the girl didn't give it her all.

Annie didn't see Jubstacheit once since her first visit to Einzbern Manor, and that was completely okay with her. That man was very difficult to be around, especially given the situation. If he was willing to leave Annie alone, she would allow him to do so without a second thought.

On the other side of things, Armin was still trying to pry into Annie's friendship with Illya, though he was being very coy and subtle about it. He seemed to know that his only angle was through Annie, which is why he was popping up around Annie a lot since their curt conversation in the student lounge. He spent half of his lunch breaks shirking his large group of friends to sit alone with Annie, always coming with a smile. Not once did he mention Illya, instead opting for meaningless small talk.

Annie didn't give him any leeway whatsoever. She answered his innocent questions honestly, but with no emotion or interest at all. It would have been easier to tell him to leave her alone, but it was difficult to do that to someone who wasn't actively being troublesome, even for someone like her. She was able to deal with the nuisance, as long as she made sure the conversation didn't drift into dangerous territory. She might have even been somewhat appreciative, had she not known she was only a means to an end in his eyes.

Against his knowledge, Annie regularly eavesdropped at the door of the student lounge whenever she got the chance and she knew Armin was in there. Sometimes others from that group were in there without him, Ymir, Marco, Reiner, etc, but she didn't bother. Armin was the only real danger of the large bunch. Most of the talk was normal, but she did hear Illya's name pop up every now and then, as well as her own. Eventually she would enter, just to make it uncomfortable for them.

Unlike Armin, the rest of the school wasn't as kind to her, even superficially. It was almost every day that she heard her name being mentioned by someone, along with vast speculations regarding Leysritt and Sella, the limo, and her grand departure from the school that Tuesday afternoon. Some of the wilder theories ranged from her secretly working for the government to her having a very rich uncle that took her in. One idiot even suggested that a rich businessman in Munich had taken her to be his lover!

One thing that didn't change: she was still an outcast. Before she met Illya, though, people just ignored her. She was just the new girl that recently moved into town that was always by herself. Now, though, she got stares as she walked through the hallway, and not the nice kind. If people ignored her before, they were actively distancing themselves from her now.

But she didn't care. Not about Armin, not about Eren, Mikasa, Jean and the rest, and not about her schoolmates. She had Illya, and she was happy with that.

One Wednesday afternoon, about two weeks after Illya's first lesson, Annie was sitting in the back of a classroom watching the snow fall outside the window. It was the last period of the day, and Annie was eager to get home, as usual. The snow was falling quite heavily, leaving Annie with a difficult walk home.

 _At least Illya will be there,_ Annie thought to herself. The two were planning to take their daily walk when Annie got home from school, but it looked like they would have to call it off. It was difficult on regular days, trudging through un-shoveled sidewalks, but walking in the midst of a storm was impossible.

 _Her stamina has gotten a lot better,_ Annie reasoned. _One day off won't hurt._

At long last the bell rung, freeing Annie from the classroom. She stopped by her locker to retrieve her coat, which she donned, then walked back down a stairwell to the front entrance of the school. Outside it was dark, snowy, and unforgiving, but the only way to get past it was to go through it, as she knew too well.

"Hey, Annie," a familiar voice called from behind her.

The blue-eyed blonde sighed inwardly. _Him again? What does he want now?_ Reluctantly, Annie turned around to face the approaching Armin. Why he was coming toward her, she did not know. He had already spent his usual fifteen minutes conversing with her at lunch about the most nonchalant things, what more could he want?

"Hey Armin," Annie said dully. "What is it?"

"Where are you headed?" he asked.

"Home, as always," she replied, on guard. Such nosy questions!

"I figured," said Armin. "Do you mind if I walk with you? My house isn't that far away from yours."

Annie had to try very hard to suppress her surprise. That certainly came out of nowhere. He really was that committed to getting something out of her, more that Annie ever thought he would.

Annie glanced up. There was a throng of people flooding out of the building around her, but off to the side she got a glimpse of Jean, Marco, and Bertholdt looking at Armin as if he were crazy.

"You're not going to go get food with your friends, like you usually do?" Annie asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"I've got to get home early today," Armin explained. "Come on, let's go."

Armin started for the door, motioning for Annie to follow. Seeing no way out of this one (she couldn't not go home), Annie followed Armin out the door and into the storm. The wind wasn't fierce and howling, but it was ever-present, slowly gnawing away at the two of them and blowing snow into their faces.

It was clear what Armin was trying to do. By coming home with her, he hoped to actually get to meet Illya. If not, then at the very least he would get to pepper her with more questions. It was a very stealthy move on his part, Annie had to admit.

 _I'll set a very fast pace,_ she thought, her mind racing. _If we get to my house early, there's a chance Illya won't be there yet._

The first couple of minutes were spent in silence. For Annie it was an awkward silence between two people who did not have any sort of friendship with each other. Armin seemingly had nothing to say, and Annie sure as hell wasn't going to start the conversation. Armin seemed to be at ease, though, his face pleasant despite the silence and the incessant annoyance of the wind and snowfall.

Finally, Armin sighed. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of this weather."

"Are you?" Annie quipped without looking at him. "You seem to be fine."

"I'm frozen, truthfully," Armin replied with an innocent smile. "I'm getting tired of snow and cold all the time. You?"

"Yes and no," Annie replied truthfully. "I prefer the snow from a distance, but I like it."

"And the cold? It doesn't bother you?"

"I wouldn't say it bothers me," Annie replied. "To say that implies that I let it get to me. I don't. It's just an annoyance that I tolerate. And don't complain about."

"I see," Armin said pensively, completely ignoring the not-so-subtle jab. He paused, as if giving thought to his next question. "What about playing in the snow? Do you enjoy doing that?"

 _So that's his way in_ , Annie mused. For the millionth time, she wished she hadn't issued that troublesome police report.

"I haven't played in the snow in a long time," she lied. "Not since I was five or six."

Armin gave her a surprised look. "Really? That long? That seems very unlikely."

"It's the truth," Annie insisted fiercely, almost angrily. "What is this, an interrogation?"

"No, not at all!" Armin replied quickly, hands in the air and a placative smile on his face. "I'm just trying to make conversation."

Annie immediately lowered her head and looked away. "Whatever," she sighed.

The rest of the walk was filled with silence. The only good outcome of Annie's outburst was that Armin stopped asking questions. Other than that, Annie just hoped that it didn't make Armin more suspicious. Her sudden anger wasn't even in relation to Illya, but to her dad. Playing in the snow was a touchy subject for her at times.

"Well, that's your house, isn't it?" Armin said after ten more minutes of walking.

"Yeah," Annie sighed. She looked at her watch, seeing that she was home five minutes earlier than usual. Annie breathed a sigh of relief; Illya was nowhere to be seen.

Armin looked a bit disappointed, but still kept a pleasant expression on his face. "Well, it was, uh, nice walking with you. Maybe we can do this again some other time?"

"We'll see," Annie replied quickly. She was eager to send Armin on his way before Illya got there. "Have a good night."

"Have a good—"

"Hi Annie!" Illya exclaimed.

Annie turned to see the pale-haired girl walking toward them with a wide smile and a wave of her arm. Her outfit was completely white, which was why Annie did not see her coming. She very nearly blended into the heavy snowfall swirling around her. Next to her, an annoyingly satisfied Armin smiled.

"Hey Illya," Annie replied quietly, internally alarmed. "This is Armin, by the way. He goes to the same school as me."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Armin said enthusiastically. He held out his hand for Illya to shake. Illya considered the hand for a moment, then slowly shook it.

"It's nice to meet you too," she replied awkwardly.

"You must be a very interesting person," Armin continued over the harsh wind. "After all, you found a way into this one's cold heart, huh?" He nudged Annie with his elbow, laughing at his jest.

Annie pulled her hood tighter around her head, hoping to hide her colored cheeks, and clenched her gloved hands at her sides.

Illya, though, took it very much in stride. "I suppose I did," she said coyly, "although if you think someone's heart is closed, maybe it's just you that has the wrong key."

Armin flashed a puzzled look, then hid it with another smile. "Where are you from, Illya?"

"Out of town," she replied without pause. "I assume you're from Edensburg yourself, like Annie?"

"Born and bred," said Armin.

"I hate to interrupt," Annie interjected quickly, "but I'm absolutely freezing. Shall we head inside, Illya?"

Illya shrugged her shoulders. "Sounds good to me."

"I'd invite you inside too, Armin," Annie added, "but you mentioned earlier that you had to get home early today. I'd hate to keep your family waiting."

"Maybe another time then," Armin replied kindly. "Have a good night, you two."

Once Armin had turned to head toward his house, Annie rushed across her snowy yard, Illya in tow, toward the front door of her house. She took out her key, unlocked the door, and ushered Illya inside before closing it behind her. The two exhaled sighs of relief at the exact same time.

"That was too close," Annie said, slightly out of breath. "I'm sorry, Illya. He all but demanded he walk home with me; I had no way to refuse him."

"Don't worry about it," Illya replied slowly. Annie noticed the poor girl's hands were trembling with nerves, and her breaths were drawn and shaky. "I'm assuming he's the one you're always complaining about?"

"Yeah," Annie replied in a low voice. "Armin Arlert. Nosiest person I know. You did very well with him, Illya."

"Thanks," Illya said, looking up at her with a grateful expression. "I can be smooth when I want to be."

"I'll try to arrange it so that you don't have to run into him again," Annie assured her. "It'll be hard, he's clever, but I'll do it. Your secret is safe with me, and always will be."

* * *

An electric wind chime sounded as Armin opened the door to the café. He was chilled to the bone after being outside for near on thirty minutes, with puffy, red cheeks and snow in his hair. He wiped his snowy boots on the large mat by the door before going deeper inside.

There were a few different places that he went to eat out in Edensburg, but the cafe was his favorite. There was something about the warm, inviting atmosphere and the delicious aroma of coffee and baked good swirling through the air that Armin found especially pleasant.

Toward the back of the café, Armin found the usual gathering of his friends. Not all of them could make it every day; usually there weren't more than four or five on any given day, but one could be sure that a portion of that group would be in some eatery within the hour immediately after school ended.

Today it was Jean, Marco, and Bertholdt, calmly sipping a hot drink in a small booth. It had been difficult to ignore their stares when he abruptly walked away from them to go with Annie, but he managed. Now their heads turned toward him as he approached their table.

"Well?" Bertholdt asked once Armin sat down. "Did you find anything this time?" His tone was very even; it was clear that some of his friends were less interested in this than others.

"Not a thing," Armin said, his voice slightly defeatist. "Annie was as curt as ever, and Illya is just as tight-lipped as Annie, albeit friendlier."

"You _met_ her?!" Jean asked incredulously.

"That was my hope," Armin explained. "I figured they might meet after school, and I got lucky that she arrived while I was still there."

"Well, what's she like?" Marco insisted.

"Like I said, friendlier than Annie…and surprisingly coy," Armin added. "She's very smart for her age, I'll give her that."

"Sounds like someone we know," Marco commented with a smirk, nudging Armin in the ribs. Armin didn't even notice the compliment, though, as a grim look overtook his features.

"I've been pestering Annie for over two weeks now, and nothing's come of it," he muttered. "She hasn't slipped yet, and every time I go anywhere near the topic she immediately shuts the door. I fear I've reached the end of the trail of this tactic, and who knows if I'll see Illya ever again, so that means…"

"Uh, Armin?" said Jean. "Are you alright?"

Armin nodded. "I know what I have to do now."

"And that is?" asked Bertholdt.

Armin paused. Should he really put this out into the open? They'll all try to convince him otherwise. They might say that he's going too far, they might even call him crazy. _But I have to tell them,_ he thought grimly. _They're my friends, I have to_. And there was no chance they would change his mind; his mind was already made up. He just had to know if he was right all these years.

He sighed. "Tomorrow, I'm going into the woods."


	9. Pandora's Box

"You're going to what?" Jean asked, as if he hadn't heard correctly.

"I'm going into the woods," Armin repeated. "Tomorrow."

"Look, I know you're not the funniest person," Marco said lightly, "but even you could do better than that, Armin."

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Armin challenged, giving Marco a flat stare. "I'm going into the woods. Tomorrow. How many times do I have to say it?"

The three returned silent, blank stares in response to Armin's words. None of them were smiling, but they didn't look shocked either. If anything, the three of them all looked nervous.

"Well, go ahead, call me crazy. Let's get this over with," Armin sighed. That's what he was expecting, and he wanted them to get that over with as soon as possible so that he could move on with his preparations.

Instead, none of them said a word. Berthold just looked straight ahead with a neutral, slightly resigned expression. Jean was looking down at the table, while Marco was awkwardly fiddling with his spoon.

"Well?" Armin demanded. "Aren't you guys going to say something?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a waiter approach the table, a pleasant smile on his face. "Welcome, sir," he said. "Can I get you anything?"

"Thanks," said Armin, "but I was actually just leaving." He stood up without another word and walked out of the café, not bothering to notice the hot stares of his three friends boring into his back.

Outside, the snow was still whirling through the air. The sun had fully set, and night had arrived. The snow was already about a foot deep, but was forecasted to taper off by about midnight. It was still bone-chillingly cold, however. His walk in the woods would not be pleasant.

But he didn't care. He didn't care how hard it would be, and he didn't care what any of his friends thought. He figured he would be on his own, but that didn't matter. Ever since he saw the man in the black robe disappear into that forest when he was eleven he had been interested in that old rumor. He had long suspected, and Illya's appearance only strengthened his theory. Now, it was time to prove it.

His eyes turned in the direction that Annie's house lay, where she was currently sheltering the little, white-haired girl that held answers that Armin craved and could not get to. Then he turned in the direction of the forest, the dangerous forest that people avoided like the plague, the one he was dead set on entering, and clenched his fist.

"I know there's something in there," he muttered. "I just know it."

And then he turned and went home.

* * *

"What would you like me to make you?" Annie asked. She was standing in the kitchen, looking through her half-filled refrigerator and pondering over the various things that she could whip up for dinner. Over on the couch, Illya was fixated on the snow falling just beyond the closed window.

"I ate before I left home, so I'm fine." she replied. "Besides, I feel bad that you're always providing my meals. It's not fair."

"Don't be ridiculous," Annie dismissed. "Whenever I'm at your place you practically prepare a feast."

"I guess…" Illya trailed off. "It's just…never mind."

"You're worried for me because I'm poor," Annie said bluntly.

Illya looked mortified. "No! I'm not, really—"

"Yes, you are," Annie said certainly.

"Well…" she trailed off again, looking down at her feet. She had a shameful look on her face, and a sad glint to her eyes.

Annie closed the fridge and marched over to sit next to her friend. She put a strong hand on Illya's shoulder, to show that she was dead serious. Illya looked up in surprise as she felt Annie's strong grip.

"You don't have to worry about me," Annie said in the firmest voice she could muster. "Not at all. I'm perfectly fine. I get money from the state as an orphaned minor. I inherited the house from my dad, and I hardly buy anything except food and clothing, so it's not like I don't have some small amount of money to spare."

"So—"

"So I can afford to provide you a few meals without going broke," Annie clarified, a bit too curtly. She did not like people prying into her finances, even Illya.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

Annie nodded, indicating that she was forgiven. _Illya probably doesn't even know that its rude to talk about that stuff,_ she told herself. _She grew up isolated in a castle, after all._

"Hey, Annie?" Illya perked up. "Can I ask you something?"

Annie looked at her intently. The way she asked that question was so soft and timid that she could tell a heavy topic was being broached. "What is it?"

"I don't mean to upset you again, or to—to suggest anything," she said very quickly. "I just want to be a good friend."

"What is it?" Annie repeated.

Illya gulped, and began wringing her hands. "I know you said you're alright living here, but being in this situation might sometimes get hard and tiring. If you ever…if you ever got _too_ tired, would you consider coming to live with me?" She started that sentence looking down at her lap, but ended it look right into Annie's eyes.

Annie stared blankly at her. The offer shocked her at first, yet at the same time it didn't. Deep down, she figured the offer would come eventually. Illya was such a king-hearted girl, and she really liked Annie, so it made sense for her to want to make that offer. For a moment, Annie wasn't sure what to say, but the moment passed very quickly.

Annie smiled at Illya at put her hand back on the younger girl's shoulder. "Don't be so nervous, Illya. I'm not mad."

"You're not?"

"No," Annie confirmed, "but I'm going to have to decline your offer. I can't leave the only place I have left. It's not a gorgeous manor, sure, but it's my home. And more importantly, it's my dad's home."

Illya sighed. "I understand. I was expecting that answer, to be honest." She sighed again. "I just feel a little bad for you."

"And that's the last thing I need," Annie said pointedly. "I told you, don't worry about me. I'm perfectly fine. The world is a tough place to live in, and there's no changing that, only dealing with it."

Annie expected Illya to nod her head, or to express some sort of verbal reply that Annie had gotten her point across. Instead, a bitter smile appeared on Illya's face, and she slowly shook her head.

"You know, that sounds exactly like something my dad would say," Illya said wistfully.

There it was. Another mention of Illya's mysterious dad. The man that Illya avoided talking about like the plague. The man who Illya seemed to disdain as much as she showed affection for her mom, Irisviel. The man that Lord Acht held nothing but contempt for. _Who the hell was this person?_

"Is it?" Annie commented offhandedly. "Maybe we're similar people."

"Not even close!" Illya exclaimed, standing up. "He completely abandoned—"

She abruptly cut herself off, clasping a hand over her mouth with a horrified look on her face. Tears were glistening in her eyes, threatening to spill onto her face. She sat back on the couch and exhaled very loudly. "No…no, I don't want to..."

Annie sighed. She didn't want to broach the topic if it made Illya upset; she sure felt that way herself at times. But this wasn't the same. People pried into Annie's life about things that she wasn't troubled over. Clearly, Illya was troubled, and needed to get whatever this was off her chest, so Annie reluctantly plied forward.

"You know," she began softly, "your grandfather mentioned that your father betrayed the family. Is this what he's talking about?"

She slowly turned toward her. "I'd really rather not—"

"That's fine," Annie interjected. "You know me. I don't like to stick my nose in other people's business, and I don't like when noses are stuck in mine. If you don't want to talk about this, consider the topic dropped. But if you do want to get this off your chest, know that you have an ear to talk to."

Illya closed her eyes, and her face contorted. She was clearly struggling with this; whether it was with the decision or with the memories themselves Annie could not tell. Finally, after a few seconds, she released all of that tension.

"I can't tell you everything," she stated softly.

"Tell me only what you want to tell me."

She inhaled, then exhaled. "Okay. My father came from outside the palace, about a year before I was born. He came on, well, let's call it business that he had with Grandfather. While there, though, he fell in love with my mother, Irisviel. About a year after that, I was born.

"Then, eight years later, my parents took a trip to a small city in Japan. On that trip, my mom died." Illya clenched her hand to her heart, struggling to maintain composure.

"I'm sorry," Annie said compassionately. "I didn't realize it was so sudden."

"I knew it was bad news as soon as I saw Grandfather walk into my room. He _never_ comes into my room. When he told me my mother died, I was fairly upset, but that didn't even compare to what he told me next.

"According to him, my father, he abandoned us. He stayed in Japan, without sending any sort of word. It was if I didn't exist. Grandfather even said he adopted a son, Shirou, but didn't even give another thought to his naturally-born daughter."

She paused, looking ahead at the wall of the living room. "He told me he loved me before he left. How could he just leave me?" She asked that question as if asking the heavens above, and she got no answer. Her voice was so small and desperate for an answer that it almost broke Annie's heart.

"Illya, I…" Annie trailed off, for she didn't know what to say. There was no consoling someone in that situation. Until now, Annie thought there was nothing worse than someone whose parents were both dead. She was just shown to be wrong. No wonder Illya was so desperate for a friend. Everyone in her life that she cared about left her, confined to the walls of that manor with no escape.

"Anyway," Illya continued, still withholding those tears, "I have been living with just Grandfather ever since. It's been six years, and it has felt like thirty, but I can still remember all the times he would take me through the forest, especially on the last day that I saw him."

"Illya," Annie said tenderly, "I know it could be difficult, but you have to forget about him. You will never move past it of you let it consume you like this. Don't let him bog you down, he's not worth it."

"I'm not bogged down, don't you worry about that," Illya said firmly. "But this isn't something I can forget. Somewhere, Kiritsugu Emiya is alive and well, living with his adopted son, and it makes my blood boil.

"There are many things that I want, but I want nothing more than to see him once again. I want to stare him right in the eye and see the ashamed, pathetic look on his face when he realizes who I am. I want him to know how much I suffered after he left. One day, it's going to happen. I don't know how, but it will."

Annie looked at the resolute expression on Illya's face. It was almost worrisome, if she was being honest. A girl who looked so young should never have to make that kind of face.

"I…I hope you get that chance," Annie finally said. "Just don't let it, you know, consume you."

"I know," said Illya, "I know. I'm not going to waste too much energy on a piece of filth like him."

 _Whoa,_ Annie thought. _There is no love lost between the two of them._ But how could she blame her for feeling that way? Annie would, if she were in Illya's shoes. It was still shocking, though, to see someone harbor such feelings for their father, even if it was justified.

Looking around the house, Annie couldn't help but think of her own dad. In contrast to Illya, Annie didn't think of her dad at all. She told herself that she loved him and missed him, but truthfully, whenever any thought of him came up, or even anything that she associated with him, she suppressed the thoughts, burying them out of her conscience. Why did she do that? How did she truly feel, underneath all of the dead, cold calm that she always projected to the world?

 _I will always be with you, Annie. Even if it seems like I'm not, I will always be there. Even if you feel like you're entirely alone in the world, I will be there._ That's what he said to her on his deathbed, but it just wasn't _true_. He _wasn't_ there, he _wasn't_ with her in her loneliness and isolation. He _left_ her. She knew it wasn't fair to look at it that way, but he _left_ her all alone.

"Annie," Illya said.

Annie snapped out of her melancholy thoughts to look at her. Her face was completely relaxed now, all of the worn cervices gone. Her skin looked clean and fresh, her eyes sparkled, and there was a tiny, grateful smile on her face. "Thanks," the younger girl said. "You were right, I needed to let that out."

The two embraced, Illya clinging tightly to Annie as she hugged her. It should have been a warm feeling, but there was a part of Annie that didn't feel it. She was happy that the conversation had helped Illya out; she just wished she could say the same for herself. Illya was relaxed, content and satisfied, while Annie was just left with more questions.


	10. On Board

As Annie walked into the school building Wednesday morning, she immediately got the sense that it was too quiet. It didn't seem that way, the hallways were still as chatty as always, and packed with people, but it felt like it. For one, Armin wasn't dogging her with questions, which was a bit of a surprise.

She hardly paid that any mind as she continued to walk through the halls, headed to her homeroom class before it started. She was still dwelling on last night's conversation with Illya. She had been too confused with her own thoughts and her own situation to give it much mind before, but there were parts of Illya's remarks that gave her pause.

The thoughts came unbidden. She didn't want to dwell on these issues because of her minding-her-own-business policy, but sometimes it was impossible to stop the questions from popping up in one's mind. And Annie definitely had a few questions about what Illya had told her.

For one, Illya said that her father, Kiritsugu, initially came to Einzbern Manor on business. Annie didn't notice it at the time, but the way Illya had said the word 'business' was very strange. What business could it have been that Illya wasn't able to specify specifically what business it was?

It all seemed extremely fishy to her. A man going to a castle that no one else knew about to conduct 'business' sounded very shady. Perhaps she had read one too many crime novels, but a secret castle whose occupants hide their business dealings usually meant that the law was being subverted.

Moreover, why would Kiritsugu travel with his wife to Japan and abandon his daughter, especially when she needed him most? Fathers don't randomly abandon their daughters. What reason did he have? Unfortunately, the most plausible answer was that something had run afoul in this 'business' of theirs.

If that was the case, then Kiritsugu was still a horrible person, and worse, a coward. Nothing should ever make someone willingly abandon their child. She could see why Illya wanted to confront the man so badly.

Of course, Annie could not verify any of these theories, so she did not jump to conclusions. The only thing she could verify was that there was something secret going on with the whole thing, though not necessarily an evil one. Even if there was something fishy going on behind the scenes, by no means did Annie think Illya was somehow involved in it. However things really were, she was just a victim of circumstance.

All of the new information, though, did not change the central question that had been gnawing at the back of Annie's mind since she first met Illya. What was going on at Einzbern Manor that it had to be hidden from the world? It was an interesting question, but one that she was determined to do no more with than ponder inside the confines of her own mind. She wouldn't dig where she didn't belong; she was not Armin.

Speaking of Armin, he was in his usual seat, in the front row of homeroom. Strangely, he was not talking to either Mikasa or Eren, who were both sitting near him but not next to him. As a matter of fact, that entire gang, Jean and Marco, Conny and Sasha, Reiner and Berthold, Ymir and Christa, all were uncharacteristically silent, and awkwardly so.

 _Maybe some friend drama?_ Annie speculated. She usually didn't spend time thinking about that sort of thing, but this time she made a mental note of it, given which group of friends this was. She had to keep a distant eye on them if Illya's secret was to remain safe.

At lunch things were even stranger. Annie was sitting at the round table in the corner, like always, munching on a sandwich, when she noticed Armin across the room. By himself. None of his friends were to be found in the room, just a bunch of other kids that Annie mostly failed to recognize.

"Wow," she commented under her breath. "I wonder what brought that on?" Not only was he not sitting with his friends, he wasn't sitting with _her_ , trying to get every last piece of information out of her. It was very strange, to finally be able to not be bothered at lunch. The silence was so unusual, it was almost unpleasant. Almost.

She wondered if this had anything to do with Armin's investigation. Should she be concerned? _Of course not,_ she scolded herself. _Since when do you get involved in petty drama? This has absolutely nothing to do with you, focus on more important things._ With a final glance around the room, Annie returned to her sandwich, and to enjoying the blissful peace of being left alone.

* * *

Armin sighed, letting out a drawn, heavy breath. He couldn't recall a school day in his life where he had sighed so much and talked so little. From the moment he walked into the building until now, he didn't say a single word, save to answer a couple of questions from his teachers during class.

He wasn't upset at his friends. Not in the slightest. If they had agreed to his idea, great. If not, then he was willing to hear why they thought it was a bad idea. It was the silence, the staring at him like he was some strange animal that made him uncomfortable. If they didn't have anything to say about it to him, then he would plan it and do it on his own.

In truth, the silence was as much his friends not talking to him as it was the reverse. He couldn't puzzle out why. Maybe they thought he was crazy, taking this as far as he was? A likely possibility, but Armin believed they were close enough that they'd be comfortable telling him so.

 _Whatever,_ he thought. _If they don't want to talk about it, then I won't. I have more important things to ponder._

The truth was, Armin's silence was as much eagerness as it was having nobody to talk to. Eagerness, that is, with a pinch of fear. He was eager and excited to finally see if he was right all these years about there being a settlement in the woods. The snow had stopped and the sky was clear for a change, there would be nothing in his way.

The fear, of course, was the wolf-infested forest itself, but he tried not to dwell on that.

The bell had just rung a minute ago, ending the second-to-last period of the day, and now Armin was headed for the lounge. The teacher for his last class on Thursdays was absent that particular day, but the school prohibited students from leaving the building before the day was over.

That left Armin with some time to kill before he could get going. He had worn his heaviest, warmest jacket to school today, and had brought along a scarf, winter hat, and a pair of gloves. He also brought his extra-thick snow boots, perfect for hiking through snow. Other than that, all he needed was the will to go, which he definitely possessed.

As he neared the lounge, he started to get antsy. Just like anyone else, when he was looking forward to something and had to wait those final few minutes for it, he got uncharacteristically restless. Just under an hour to go, but that hour would take a painstakingly long time.

 _I'll pop open a book, perhaps,_ he thought, _or maybe I'll ask Annie a few more questions, one last attempt before I resort to my drastic measure._ She probably would be in there; she was in the same class as him last period on Thursdays, and she had been spending much of her free time in there lately.

Either way, it should be a relaxing forty-five minutes. Not many people used the lounge; it wasn't the cleanest room, but it was cozy. He could use a bit of coziness before venturing through the harsh cold of the forest. Some coziness, a nice cushion, and some silence.

What he wasn't expecting was his entire cohort of friends, gathered in silence in the lounge, looking at him with grim faces as he walked into the room. All of them were there. A group that had known each other since second grade more or less. Armin was closer with some than he was with others, but he counted all of them his best friends, and had a good relationship with each of them.

Jean was sitting nearest the door, his light brown hair neatly cropped and his hands linked together on his lap. He was completely still, but his eyes betrayed a slight amount of nervousness. Marco's face was more worried than nervous, his usual smile vanishing behind a droopy frown.

He knew this would be a very serious conversation when he noticed that Sasha wasn't eating anything. That girl took every opportunity she could to chow down, but now she was sitting on the floor with wide eyes and a nervous smile. Conny was beside her, tugging at his own sleeve.

Ymir wore a dark scowl, something that she was prone to do. Her dark, sleek hair was tied back save to two strands to either side of her face, and her eyes were hard. Christa was more delicately poised, but her face was sad, her eyes large and blue, and her hair falling wavily down past her shoulders.

Standing with his head down, as if in deep thought, was the hulking Reiner. Normally he was friendly and jovial, but now he looked serious and pensive. The even taller Bertholdt stood next to him in much the same manner. He wasn't very talkative, but he was also friendly. It was strange to see the two of them like that.

And in the center of the room, directly across from Armin, were his best friends, Eren and Mikasa. Mikasa's face betrayed not the slightest emotion. She was cool and collected as always, but her staring right at him made Armin uneasy. And then there was Eren, everything Mikasa wasn't. He always wore his emotions on his sleeve for everyone to see, and it was clear from his fierce face what he was thinking at the moment.

With that collective amount of pressing seriousness all directed at him, Armin had half a mind to bolt. It was a tough situation, after all, being cornered like that. But he didn't run away. They were his friends, he would face whatever they had to tell him. Besides, he was the smartest of the bunch, and had full confidence he could wiggle his way out.

"If I'm not mistaken," he said after a minute of silence, "I'm fairly certain you all have class now. I would hate to see you guys get in trouble."

It was Mikasa who answered. "This is more important than class," she said in a level, even voice.

"What is?" Armin pressed, just as level. "What is this?" He spread his arms to encompass everyone in the room.

"We need to talk to you," Mikasa answered. "Now."

"About what?" Armin asked, although he already knew the answer. He needed to drag this out as long as possible. If he bought himself enough time the bell would ring before the conversation progressed to far, and he'd go straight to the forest.

"About you going to the woods, Armin!" Eren exclaimed, exasperated. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Eren, stop," Reiner said firmly, putting his arm out in front of the shorter boy. "He's right, though, Armin. Going into that forest is way too dangerous. I know you're smarter than that."

"Of course it's dangerous," Armin countered. "I know that better than any of you, and I'm prepared. Why do you care what I do or where I decide to go?"

"Of course we care," said Eren, voice still heated. "You'll get mauled by a wolf or freeze to death in the snow!"

Armin sighed. This was exactly what he was expecting. "I'm not going to be in the woods long enough for that, Eren," he reasoned. "How long do you think Illya would be able to travel on foot? A half hour? An hour at best. I'll go into the woods for an hour, and if I don't see anything I'm going to head straight back. If I see a wolf or a bear, I know what to do, and I brought the heaviest winter clothes I own. All that for _two hours._ "

"That's not…that's not all we want to talk about," Jean said slowly. "We think you've taken this…this _investigation_ a little too far, Armin."

Armin let that statement sink in. He was expecting that too, but it still felt strange to be told that. He always thought himself to be calm and reasoned, never one to give into passions or sudden takings. He never dreamed he would be accused of taking something too far.

"A little too far?" said Ymir in a hard voice. "Armin, you've gone beyond the pale."

"We all hardly see you anymore," Conny added. "Whenever you talk, it's always about this. You don't come out with us after school nearly as much as you used to, and you're never sitting with us at lunch any more. So we're…we're…"

"We're worried, Armin," Eren finished. "We're worried."

"I…I appreciate that," Armin replied. It was true, he really did appreciate friends that worried for his well-being. However, they would not sway him. Had he taken it too far? He was willing to admit it, but he didn't care this time. Yes, he was calm, cool, and collected, but he was also curious, and this time, curiosity won by a landslide.

"Come on, Armin, just let this whole thing go," Marco politely insisted, a small smile on his face. "It's not worth spending so much energy on something so small."

Armin smiled back. "I can't, Marco."

"Why not," Eren groaned desperately. He stood up and put his hands gently onto Armin's shoulders. "Come on, Armin, why not?"

For some reason, that brought laughter to Armin's lips. "Eren, I thought you knew me better," he said in between chuckles. "You know how curious I can get, right?"

"Yeah, but this is insane!" he pressed.

Armin sighed. "Please, Eren," he said softly. "You're not going to convince me otherwise. I have my reasons for doing this, and you all know that when I have reasons they're pretty damn good reasons. I know you convened this little intervention to put as much pressure on me as possible, but I'm not biting. As soon as that bell rings, I'm going to that forest, and that's that."

"But—"

"However," Armin continued, "I take your point about how much I've been dedicated to this. I didn't mean to be rude not sitting with you guys at lunch and not coming with you guys after school, and I'm sorry. I'll make it a point to spend more time with you guys in the future."

They all looked back at him with unreadable expressions, as if they were all contemplating his words. It was difficult for him to say it (he hated admitting he was wrong), but it had to be said. He hoped the first part of his reply was emphasized to them too, though. He needed them to understand that he was not giving this up.

Finally, Eren sighed. "Well, we're obviously not going to convince you, are we?"

"Not a chance," Armin confirmed.

Eren nodded. "Then—then we're coming with you."

Armin took a giant step back with widened eyes. "You're what?!"

"If you think we're letting you go in there on your own you've got another thing coming," Reiner said forcefully. "We discussed this beforehand. If we couldn't convince you not to go, then we'd go with you. It's non-negotiable."

"The larger the group of people, the less likely wolves or bears will come to us," Mikasa explained. "And if one of us gets hurt, others will be around to help. This is the only way we're letting you do this, Armin. And we won't take no for an answer."

Outwardly, Armin kept a plain face, but inwardly he smiled. He didn't want to ask them to come with him; he didn't want to put them in needless danger, but if they wanted to come with him, to help him and to have his back, he would welcome them.

"Alright," he said with set smile, "into the woods we go."


	11. Busted

It was nearing the end of the day, and Annie was feeling the familiar itch of wanting to get out of that building. It was one thing if she had class; then, she had no choice at all but to stay. When she had the period off, though, that was even more excruciating, being so close yet so far from freedom.

 _Whatever,_ Annie lamented. _Besides, I'd still be waiting on Sella even if I did get out early._ The day was Thursday, which meant that it was time for another training session with Illya. Annie had come to look forward to these lessons. Besides spending time with her friend, it allowed her to escape Edensburg for a little while, even if it was only to that dreary, mysterious castle.

Looking up at the clock, she saw that she still had ten minutes to go before she was allowed to be on her way. She was in the lunchroom, which was mostly empty and quiet, something that suited her quite well. A book was propped up on her lap, opened up to the last page. She had just finished reading it; it was one of those books that had an interesting premise, unique characters, and clever world-building, but a terrible ending.

With still ten minutes to kill, Annie decided she would walk around a little bit to stretch her legs. She had been sitting practically the entire day, so she felt the need to get her blood flowing a little bit. She was passing by the student lounge when she heard something that piqued her interest.

"This is the only way we're letting you do this Armin," the voice said. "And we won't take no for an answer."

It was Mikasa's voice. Annie was sure of it. Slowly, cautiously, quietly, Annie approached the closed door to the lounge. She bent down, ever so slowly, and pressed her ear against the door. She couldn't tell who was in there, but based on the shadows seen underneath the door there were a lot of people in there. Nobody was talking, the silence was extremely eerie, and Annie felt as if she were hanging from the edge of a cliff by her fingernails.

"Alright," Armin finally said. "Into the woods we go."

 _Into the woods we go._ That could only mean…

"Oh no," Annie whispered. And then she bolted.

Annie ran through the empty hallways, as fast as she dared. There were still five minutes before the final bell, but she didn't care. She had to get a head start on Armin and the rest. She had to warn Illya that there was trouble coming, and every second counted, and could not be wasted.

Lucky for her, there was nobody in the hallway to hinder her in her near sprint through the school. Nobody in the classrooms seemed to hear her either, courtesy of her stealthy running. She stopped by her locker to hastily put her coat on. Her hat and scarf would have to wait. She then went quickly down the stairs and made her way to the front of the building.

At the entrance, a lone security guard, known simply to the students as Otto, sat in a small desk by the door. He was a black-haired, old-ish man with a bit of a pot belly. Otto was friendly and well-liked, but followed the rules to a tee. Annie slackened her pace when she got within his sight so as to appear respectable. There were three minutes to go before school was over, and she needed him to let her out early.

"Young lady, you can't leave the building until the final bell has rung," Otto instructed kindly as she approached the door.

"Please, my friend needs help," Annie pleaded, pouring as much a pathetic into her voice as she was willing to tolerate from herself. "It's sort of an emergency."

"Well, I…"

"Please, sir, I wish this could wait, but it really can't," Annie begged. "Please sir, what's two minutes? No one's around, no one will see. Please."

"Oh…alright, but just this once," Otto relented. "And you cannot tell a soul, or I'll have every kid asking me to skirt the rules for them."

"Understood," Annie replied with a nod. "Thank you!" She waved at him over her shoulder as she ran down the steps. As she left the building and rounded the corner, she could hear the bell ring from inside the building. In a matter of seconds, students would begin pouring into the hallways, and then eventually into the streets, including Armin and his friends. The race was on.

Unfortunately, Annie could only go so fast given the conditions. It wasn't snowing out, but the roads and sidewalks were still slippery from yesterday's storm. The best Annie could manage was a careful, brisk pace. She probably looked silly, jerking this way and that as she tried to move fast without falling, but she obviously didn't care.

Moving quickly, she reached the pathway into the forest in what she thought was good time. There was still no sight of Armin; the fact that they were many and she was one worked to her advantage, as a larger group travelled slower through the icy roads. Without hesitation, she plunged into the woods.

"Please be on time, Sella," she said aloud, almost as if in prayer. "Please be on time." The maidservant usually was, but today it was critically important. Once Annie got in the car and it started moving, she was safe, but she had to make that happen quickly. Forget about Armin catching up to her, if he so much as saw her in the distance it was game over.

Thankfully, after about a mile of fast walking and nervously glancing over her shoulder, Annie saw the blue car waiting on the pathway. The path was clear of snow, somehow maintained by the Einzberns starting about a mile into the woods. One quick glance behind her revealed no sign of anybody.

"Good evening, Annie," Sella greeted with a smile, the sun glinting off her white outfit. "You're slightly early today."

"Yes, I am," Annie noted, her voice very rushed. "I'm eager to start today's lesson with Illya!"

"Excellent, then we'll get going," said Sella. Painfully slow to Annie's eyes, Sella put the car into drive and began to go up the road. Once she did, Annie was able to relax. She had outpaced Armin and protected the secret of the Einzberns. Problem solved.

Or was it? Her plan was to move as fast as possible and to warn Illya. And…then what? What was Illya going to do to stop them? How would they turn them away without appealing to Lord Jubstacheit? Annie couldn't tell Sella anything, she was too loyal to Acht, but Leysritt was potentially trustworthy. Maybe she would know something…

"Is there something wrong?" Sella asked, glancing to her right. She observed Annie's hunched shoulders as she thought about the situation.

"I'm fine," Annie assured her swiftly. "Just a tad sore."

"Very well, if you say so," said Sella. "Ah, here we are." The forest cleared around them as Einzbern Manor appeared in the distance upon its small rise. It was strange to see the setting sun shining red off the windows; to Annie, a swirling downfall of snow seemed for fitting, like the first time she saw it.

Sella pulled up a short distance from the manor, as usual, and Annie did not waste any time getting out of the car. She had to get to Illya fast; the more time they had to solve this problem, the better. She walked briskly, almost at a run, up to the door. Once there she reached up for the large, golden door knocker.

She never reached it, for it was jerked from her grasp as the door opened. Standing there, looming down at her, was Lord Jubstacheit von Einzbern.

"Lord—Lord Acht," Annie said, surprised and taken aback.

Acht didn't give any verbal reply. Instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper, handing it to Annie. Annie reluctantly took the paper and glanced at it, though she already suspected what was on there. It was a picture of eleven familiar teenagers standing at the entrance of the pathway into the woods.

"Care to explain?" Acht asked very softly.

Annie sighed and bowed her head, defeated. The game was up. The only option was to tell Acht what was happening, there was no way out of it now. Barbed fences are painful, but one can't hold off a pack of dogs forever.

"What was that?" Acht asked. Annie realized that she had said that last sentence aloud.

"Nothing, forget I said it," said Annie. "I'll explain what's been going on."

Right there, on the threshold of the manor, Annie gave a basic outline of what had led to eleven teenagers arriving on his doorstep. She emphasized the parts that were her own fault, such as the police report, while brushing over Illya's escapades from the manor in an attempt to shield her friend. She told of Armin's unyielding curiosity, and how he kept pestering her to no avail. Having no other answers, he must have finally decided to risk it all and venture into the forest.

"I see…" Acht said when Annie was finished. His face wasn't angry at all, rather it was completely neutral and evaluative, which Annie found even scarier. "And you didn't immediately come to me upon hearing this because you fear I shall enact harsh discipline upon Illyasviel, correct?"

Annie didn't answer than, but instead just averted her eyes.

"The girl still sneaks out, doesn't she," Acht stated. It wasn't a question. "What use is that girl if she can't follow basic commands?"

Rage boiled inside Annie at those horrid comments. Illya wasn't his slave, it wasn't right for him to treat her like that! But, of course, she couldn't express her anger, not even on her face. She limited her reaction to just a slight clenching of her fist, taking a deep breath to bury her hot emotion.

"Follow me," Lord Acht instructed, turning and moving deeper into the castle. "We must discuss your future with the Einzbern family, and how we proceed from here."

"Uh, yes, Lord Acht," Annie said nervously, "but, if I may, there is still the matter of Armin and his friends. They are headed in this direction and—"

"Fear not, Miss Leonhart," Acht interjected over his shoulder. "It has all been taken care of. They are of no danger to us now. The only thing that remains is for you to present to me options that detail how a situation like this will be prevented from happening in the future. If you cannot, then I will have to cut off all your ties with us."

"Cut off your ties with me?" Annie asked. "You mean…"

"Yes," said Acht. "You would never see Illya again. You have until we reach the cathedral to think of a proposal. Think quickly, Miss Leonhart, your time is already running short."

* * *

"Well, here we are," Armin announced. He stood at the head of the group, staring at the tall trees that lined the path going into the woods. The forest was eerily silent, as befit the winter. Snow was piled about eight inches high on the path, higher to either side. There was a small amount of wind, but nothing bothersome.

Before this, Armin had always viewed the forest as a hindrance, as the thing standing between him and his goal. Now that he was facing it down, however, now that he was about to actually go inside, he viewed the forest with a sort of awe. The tall, thick trees clustered together, proudly and successfully veiling the secret held within.

"Shall we go in?" he asked, turning back to face his friends. They were all bundled up as snuggly as he was, and were wearing boots suitable for walking. It had taken longer than Armin would have liked for everyone to get their stuff from their houses, but nothing was to be done about that.

"This is your expedition, Armin," Reiner replied. "We go wherever you take us."

Armin nodded. He looked back at the woods. He was finally here, he was finally about to do this, to discover the truth held within the pines. He didn't know whether he was going to find something, but at last he would at least have the issue settled.

"You dragged us all the way out here, don't tell me you're getting cold feet now," Ymir drawled.

"Not at all," said Armin firmly. "Let's go."

Leading the way, Armin ventured down the path. His friends followed him, the group forming a close-knit cluster. Armin was in front, with Eren and Mikasa to either side. Sasha and Conny were behind them, with Ymir protectively putting an arm around Christa in the middle. Jean and Bertholdt held the rear.

The first few minutes of walking were spent silently, with no noise coming from the group or from anywhere else. Armin spent his time contemplating what exactly they would find, if anything, while the rest were wrapped up in their own thoughts. The houses of Edensburg slowly retreated into the distance, and the forest wholly surrounded them.

"So," Eren stated, "what exactly do you expect to find?"

Armin shrugged his shoulders. "I'm expecting some sort of house, obviously, somewhere that Illya could've comfortably spend the night. I'd expect it to be small, but who knows? It could be we find nothing."

"And if that happens?" Jean asked from well behind.

"If that happens," Armin replied, "then I will continue to be perplexed. Of course, conclusions can't just be made from one trip. If we don't see anything I'll probably be making at least two more trips in here, but by no means do I expect you to join me for those as well."

Jean quietly gulped. "Best hope we find something, then."

Suddenly Mikasa stopped dead in her tracks. Armin turned toward her, worried that she had spotted something dangerous, but her face merely seemed mildly surprised. She began stomping her right foot up and down in the snow.

"Mikasa, what's the matter?" Eren inquired.

Mikasa turned toward him. "The snow," she said, "it's getting shallower."

Armin looked down and stomped his own foot a couple of times. Mikasa was right, the snow was getting shallower. Right now, it was down to about three inches.

"That can't be possible," Marco said in a wondering voice. "You'd expect the snow to get deeper the further you went into the forest."

"Let's keep moving," said Armin firmly. "It won't be light out forever."

Slowly the group returned to walking, albeit now more cautiously. The snow continued to get shallower, until it eventually disappeared entirely from the path. It was almost as if they were in the midst of the splitting of the Red Sea. Two feet of snow to either side, but in between the path was completely clear.

Meanwhile, the sky continued to darken. The sun had already been low in the sky when they set out; soon it would be completely nighttime.

"Guys, I don't like this," Christa said in a small voice. "Shouldn't we be heading back? It's going to be dark real soon."

"We've been walking for a half hour," Reiner pointed out. "I know it's not the hour you were expecting, but we haven't come across a single thing, and Christa's right. We should head back now while there's a little light left."

Armin nodded. The two made valid points. Being outside in the woods was a line that even he wasn't so willing to cross. And yet…he wasn't satisfied. True, they didn't come across a single thing, but the clear path was just so strange, it had to signal that someone was living nearby. Right?

"Let's keep at it a little longer," Armin compromised. "If we don't see anything in the next ten minutes, we'll turn around. The lack of snow on the path is just more evidence, I know there's something—"

Armin cut himself short as a low growl floated through the air. It lasted for a couple of seconds, then faded away.

"Sasha," Conny stuttered, "please tell me that was your stomach."

"Nope," Sasha replied nervously, "not me."

Up ahead, yellow eyes materialized out of the darkness. There were five pairs in total, two to the right, two to the left, and one on the path itself. As far as Armin could tell, all five of the were white. They were all staring directly at the group, and they were all growling.

A jolt of fear rose in Armin's heart. He barely fended off the panic that was welling in his gut, and tried to clear his head to think about what to do. It was difficult to do; every time he tried to think of the proper protocol his thoughts just kept turning to those frightening yellow eyes. Cold sweat dripped down his back, and his breath was quivering.

"Guys, d—don't run," he stuttered. That was something he remembered reading the night before. "Don't look them in the eye, and don't get down."

"O—okay," Christa said meekly. Her voice was white with fear. "What should we do, Armin?"

"Make noise," he said urgently, remembering the proper procedure. "Make as much noise as possible! Make yourselves seem as big as you can!"

Without wasting a moment, Armin began to follow his own instructions. He spread his arms wide and began screaming at the top of his lungs. He started jumping around, all in an attempt to seem as ferocious as possible. The only way to get rid of these wolves was to scare them off.

Slowly, everyone else began mimicking him. The woods rang loudly with their noises, echoing off the trees. It would have been ridiculous to look at if they had been in any other situation but that one. Armin gave it his all, desperately hoping that the wolves would decide that they weren't a tasty snack.

"Why aren't then running?" Eren screamed between his shouting. He was right, the wolves continued to stand there and growl, completely unafraid of them. If anything, their growling only got fiercer. Armin got more and more frightened as it become evident their antics didn't change anything.

The center wolf, the alpha male, evidently, stopped growling suddenly, the others following its lead. Armin paused his yelling, suddenly hopeful that they had finally decided to leave them alone. Then the alpha cocked back it head and howled. It was a fierce, piercing howl that cut through all of their noises and silenced their sources. The other wolves joined the howl, and then the five started to slowly advance, spittle dripping from their mouths.

And that's when Armin ran. Reason and protocol abandoned him, and the pure, primal fear of ending up in a wolf's belly took over. He let out a frightened scream as he ran, hoping beyond hope that he could somehow outrun nature's fiercest hunters. The others all ran at the same instant he did, and were just as scared. Eren was screaming "oh god" at the top of his lungs over and over again, while Ymir's language was not as clean. Even Mikasa and Bertholdt, usually stoic, had faces full of fright.

Armin didn't look back, didn't look to see where the wolves were. He just kept running, looking only forward. He hardly noticed his heart beating as fast as it was, he hardly felt the strain on his body due to his lack of regular exercise, he hardly noticed how he struggled to catch his breath. He didn't think of anything; he was running completely on animal instinct.

They ran. And they ran. And they ran. And they were all still alive; the wolves had not caught up with them. After nothing changing after a total of ten minutes of running, Armin, against his instinct's will, snuck a quick look back. And there was nothing there. The wolves were completely gone.

"Guys!" Armin called out, coming slowly to a stop. "They're gone!"

The group ran a few yards ahead before they heard him. Some, like Sasha and Jean, ran even longer than that, refusing to trust him. Eventually, though, all of them stopped and turned toward him.

"What?" Reiner asked.

"Look around," Armin said. "The wolves are gone. They must have stopped chasing us."

"Thank god," Mikasa said, putting her hands on her knees and she breathed heavily. Christa put her face on Ymir's shoulder, silently crying.

"That makes absolutely no sense," Armin thought aloud. "Why would they stop chasing us? I don't get it."

"Don't question it," said Eren. "Just be glad we're alive."

"Armin, I think we're going home now," Jean said firmly.

"Yeah," Armin nodded. They were right, it was time to leave. That was too close a call; the fear he felt tonight would be seeded deep in his heart for many days to come. He didn't think in a million years they'd actually encounter a pack of wolves, yet there they were. Without wasting another moment, the group set off at a fast pace back toward Edensburg.

Armin waited a moment, looking back down the path before following. He had finally gotten here. He had finally set out into the forest. Yet, once again, the forest stymied him.


	12. An Impossible Solution

Jubstacheit continued to lead Annie through the halls of Einzbern manner. The route was somewhat unfamiliar to her, as she had only been down it her first day, but she remembered that the walk wasn't that long. There was no sign of Illya or anyone else as the two walked.

As she walked, she furiously went through her options. Acht had put her in an extremely tight spot; she had just a few minutes to come up with an impossible solution to a complex problem or her friendship with Illya was finished. She wanted to rage against the unfairness of that situation, but she couldn't afford the time. She was completely at Acht's mercy.

 _He wants a way to prevent this from happening again,_ Annie thought. That mean preventing people from getting the impression that Illya was living in some place in the woods. As long as no one saw her go in there and not come out for a whole day, they could just keep going as they were.

Acht would never accept that, though. He wanted more. The problem was there was nothing more to give. What else could they do so that Acht didn't follow up on his threat of sealing Illya inside here forever and sealing Annie out? The only thing to do to prevent people from wondering about the forest would be to make Illya seem normal, to disassociate her from the woods. But how to do that…

A solution suddenly dawned on her, right as the creaking of the cathedral doors snapped her out of her thoughts. The cathedral looked exactly as Annie remembered, as if no one were in there since she last was a couple of weeks ago. Lord Acht didn't stop, walking down the aisle without breaking stride.

Lord Acht continued to the altar in the center of the room, while Annie stopped a few feet short. Acht turned around and leaned casually against the altar, imposing his looming figure in a position of power and ease. That intimidation and nervousness that she had felt that first time returned, but she shoved it aside. She couldn't afford to not think clearly right now.

"So," Jubstacheit said casually. "You've had ample time, Miss Leonhart. What is your proposition?"

Annie wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face with a nice fist to the jaw, but she had to keep her anger in check. She didn't forget what Illya said to her before she first met Lord Acht. Be respectful, and don't speak unless spoken to.

"Lord Acht," she began slowly. "You ask for a way in which we can prevent people from wondering about an establishment in this forest without having to cut ties with me."

"I know what I asked, Miss Leonhart," Acht said impatiently.

"Of course," said Annie. She didn't just repeat his request to sound formal. She was deliberately taking as much time as possible in order to fine tune her proposition. It was an insanely mad proposition, but, if it worked, could satisfy Lord Acht's demands and make Illya much happier.

"So you have nothing, then?" asked Acht.

"I do have something," Annie replied. "In order to prevent people from searching through the forest for your home, we need to make people believe that Illya does not in fact live there. The reason my classmate Armin and his friends went into the woods in the first place was because they wondered at how Illya survived a night there."

"Exactly," said Lord Acht. "Your claim is correct. It was Illyasviel's presence outside that caused this problem. If we follow the logic, the only way to fix this problem is to prevent Illya from leaving Einzbern Manor anymore. Technically, she was never allowed to leave, but I have been lax in enforcing this rule. That seems to be the simplest and most effective solution in my mind, so why should I consider yours?"

"Because, Lord Acht, that solution won't actually work," Annie replied. "You see, that rule, properly enforced, would have worked before, but now that Illya has been seen in Edensburg, several times, it would be suspicious if she goes missing. And with what Armin suspects, where do you think they'll look first?"

"I see," Acht murmured, looking down contemplatively. Annie kept a stoic face, but smiled inwardly. Her strategy had worked. She talked him out of his plan by focusing on the things he cared most about. She didn't mention how unfair it would be to Illya to keep her cooped up in the manor, she focused only on the issue of the manor's discovery. "What do you propose, then, Miss Leonhart?"

Annie took a deep breath. "This, Lord Acht, is a complicated problem, so we must take a drastic measure. When you first hear my proposition, it will seem that it runs directly contrary to our purpose, when in fact it should solve our problem entirely."

"Out with it."

Annie nodded. "Send Illya to school with me, Lord Acht."

Acht's head jerked up as he stared Illya with wide, fiery eyes. "What?" he asked in a low voice.

"The cause of this," Annie explained cautiously, "is not Illya in Edensburg, it's Illya on the _path_ to Edensburg. It's Illya being seen going into or coming out of the forest that is the most danger to us. If we limit that as much as possible, while at the same time deepening Illya's ties within Edensburg, we'd succeed in creating a false front.

"She can come to my house early in the morning, when I'm getting ready for school, and she won't leave until its dark, when she can go back on the path under the cover of darkness. She can go to school, making everyone believe that she is just a normal girl and not a phantom child from the woods."

Acht simply stared at her, not moving in the slightest. It felt like his eyes were boring directly into her soul. "You are mad," Lord Acht finally declared. "I cannot sanction this idea. It runs contrary to everything the Einzbern family is about! No, Miss Leonhart, your plan has been rejected. My only course of action is to ban you entirely from this manor, so that you cease to bring unwanted attention here. You will be escorted from Einzbern Manor immediately, never to return. Leysritt! Sella!"

The doors swung open immediately, admitting the two maids. They each approached Annie, presumably to escort her by the arm from the manor. Leysritt had a sad look on her face, as if she truly felt bad for Annie, whereas Sella's look was unpleasant, as if she didn't want to do what she was about to do, but would follow her lord's command nonetheless.

Annie started to panic. She had to think of something. She had to think of something! She couldn't just let it end like this. She couldn't abandon Illya out of the blue. After years of solitude, the girl finally had a friend; she couldn't take that away from her without a fight!

"I don't think so, Lord Acht!" Annie declared.

If she thought Acht's eyes were fiery before, they were triple that now. That old face, usually so stoic and collected, was now twisted with rage. Even Leysritt and Sella stopped walking, both in utter shock.

"What did you say?" Acht whispered.

"I said, I don't think so," Annie replied bravely. "If you ban me from your manor, then I will tell anyone who will listen about your presence here. I won't stop until every person in Edensburg knows where you are!"

"You dare _blackmail_ me!" Acht yelled. "Did you forget who I am, girl? Did you forget who you are? _I_ am the lord, and you are a mere subject."

"No, you have that wrong, Acht," Annie replied smugly. "The truth is that you are the person with a secret to be kept, and I'm the one with knowledge of that secret. To your credit, you've done a magnificent job of feigning your superiority with a looming presence, but in truth, you're the one at my mercy, not the other way around."

"Is that what you think?" Acht replied, an evil grin on his face. "When I throw you in a dungeon in thirty seconds I have no doubt you will be disabused of that ridiculous notion."

"Go ahead," Annie said casually. She had to keep this gusto up. Falter, and she was doomed. "Do it. Toss me in a dungeon for the rest of my life. Kill me. That will only bring the authorities here faster. People will notice my disappearance eventually, and again, where do you think the first place they'll look will be?"

Acht's face was turning red as he struggled to find something to say. _Now it's time to shift gears,_ she thought. She had gotten the upper hand through toughness, but she still needed him to acquiesce, so she went back toward being respectful.

"Please, my lord," she said softly, allowing just a touch of desperation to enter her voice. "I want to protect your secret just as much as you do. I really do like Illya, and I would hate to see her suffer the consequences of having this place discovered. My plan is the only one that will work. It is the only one where your secret is protected and doesn't sacrifice our friendship. Everyone wins."

Acht slammed his fist down on the altar. "Fine!" he declared roughly. "You are a clever girl, Miss Leonhart, easily able to worm your way around obstacles. It paid off this time; we will go through with your plan. Don't count on being so lucky the next time around." He paused to lean over the altar, almost getting in her face. "And don't you ever speak to me like that again. Now leave!"

Sella was immediately at Annie's side, tugging on her sleeve. "Come on, let's go," she whispered softly. Together with Leysritt, Annie was calmly escorted from the cathedral. She didn't dare take a look back at Acht, and she couldn't get out of that room fast enough.

"Annie Leonhart, you possess some nerve," said Sella once they were well clear of the room, shaking her head. "I never imagined anybody could have the courage and the madness to speak to Lord Jubstacheit so."

"I had no choice, Sella," Annie explained with a tired sigh. "He was going to ban me from ever seeing Illya again. I couldn't let that happen."

"I'm glad you spoke up," Leysritt commented. "It needed to be done."

"Don't say such things," Sella scolded. "It is inappropriate."

"You guys should be glad, no?" Annie countered. "You two serve and love Illya. Don't you see how happy she is with me?"

"Do not mistake me," said Sella. "I am happy Lord Acht agreed to your plan, and I am very happy that you can continue to spend time with Illya. You have changed her mood for the better, and for that I am extremely grateful. But Lord Acht is the highest authority in Einzbern Manor. To be okay with someone speaking like you did to him would be improper for Sella and me. But it is in the past now, I will dwell on it no longer."

Annie nodded. There were some kinks in her plan that needed to be worked out, such as how to enroll Illya in her school. She'd have to ask Leysritt or Sella for some documentation, she was sure. Those were only minor annoyances, though, she should be able to get Illya enrolled no problem.

 _I suppose I'll have to list myself as her legal guardian,_ Annie figured. She couldn't list Lord Acht, that would lead to unwanted inquiries. It made her uncomfortable to lie about something legal like that, but she supposed it wouldn't actually be lying. She doubted Illya actually had a legal guardian. She was happy to fill the role.

"Well, we're here," said Leysritt. The three of them stood in front of the door to Illya's quarters. "We'll leave you to deliver the good news to her, Annie."

The two maidservants walked away, leaving Annie alone in the hallway. Even after two weeks, the manor still creeped her out. The halls weren't very wide in places, and windows were very scant. And everywhere she turned, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern stared down at her with a regal, solemn look on her face. Quickly, Annie knocked on the door.

After a minute the door swung open, with Illya standing in the threshold. Her hair was tied back, the first time Annie had ever seen her wear her hair that way. She was wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts, suitable for hand-to-hand combat training. A bright smile was on her face; clearly, she had no idea what had just transpired.

"Hi Annie," she greeted. "I've been practicing those forms, like you told me."

"That's great, Illya," Annie replied with a small smile. "Listen, practice can wait. I need to discuss something with you."

Illya's smile faded slightly. "Okay, come in." She led Annie to the small couch that was in her antechamber. "What is it?"

"Armin and his friends entered the forest this evening," Annie explained.

A horrified look appeared on Illya's face. "Oh my god," she squeaked. "You have to go tell them to turn back, before Grandfather finds out!"

"Lord Acht already knows, Illya," said Annie calmly. "He said he took care of it."

Illya sighed. "Makes sense. Grandfather has eyes all over Einzbern Forest. What did he say?"

"He gave me five minutes to come up with a solution that would prevent this from happening again, on pain of banishment from the manor."

Annie expected Illya to act with indignation, even outrage. Instead, she just sighed again, a sad look on her face. "I figured he would do that. He said he'd keep a closer eye on me as well, didn't he." She looked directly at Annie, her eyes big and sad. "I don't know how often I will be able to sneak out now, Annie. It looks like we'll be seeing each other a lot less."

Annie stared back at her, processing what she said. Then she broke out laughing.

"Illya, do you doubt my plan-making abilities that much?" she asked between chuckled.

"You thought of something?!" Illya asked in astonishment. "But how? You had five minutes!"

Annie shrugged her shoulders. "I'm good at thinking on the fly. I had to say a lot to convince him, but eventually he agreed."

"That's amazing!" Illya exclaimed. "What's the plan?"

"Illya," Annie smiled back, "how would you like to go to school with me?"


	13. School

Annie shivered as she stood outside her house. A light snow was falling, snowflakes dancing through the air before hitting the snow-covered ground. There was no wind, but it was still blisteringly cold outside. The streets were almost completely empty, for it was only shortly before seven in the morning.

To Annie, it was a regular Monday morning. She was dressed for school, albeit earlier than usual, and stood with a knapsack on her back full of books. There was nothing exciting for her to look forward to today, but Illya, she was over the moon. For today would be her first day of school.

When Annie had first told her what she and Lord Acht had agreed to, she had responded with a look of shock and confusion. Then, as she realized exactly was saying, she began jumping up and down in her room like a little girl getting a piece of candy. She was finally getting a taste of normal life.

There she was now, approaching Annie's house with a wide smile. She was not dressed in her usual fancy garb, but rather in clothes that would make her fit in at school more. Annie had picked them out herself. She was still wearing her fur coat, though, and that white hat that had once belonged to her mother Irisviel.

"Good morning, student," Annie greeted when Illya reached the house.

"Good morning!" Illya replied enthusiastically. "I can't believe it!"

"Neither can I, honestly," Annie replied with a slight chuckle. "Look at you, with that backpack and everything."

"I know," said Illya. "I can't believe Grandfather agreed to this."

"Neither can I," said Annie. She hadn't told Illya exactly what had been said between her and Acht, she didn't want to upset her. "Shall we get moving? It would be good for me to give you a little tour of the building before school starts so you don't get lost. We also have to check you in with the registrar."

"You lead the way," said Illya. She was nearly shaking with eagerness.

As they walked, Annie couldn't help but worry about Illya. She knew the young girl was excited, but she had yet to experience some of the hardships of school. How well would she adjust? Would she be able to handle the workload?

 _Relax,_ she told herself. _She's a capable girl; she'll handle it fine._

Well, there it is," said Annie, pointing to the building. "Your new school. Probably not what you were expecting, but—"

"I love it!" Illya exclaimed. "Come on, let's go inside!"

Annie practically had to jog to keep up with Illya's pace, but once they reached the building it was Annie who took the lead. She led the wide-eyed Illya through the corridors, heading to the main office. The corridors were empty, as there was an hour to go before classes start, making the trip smooth and easy.

At first, Annie wondered why Illya was so starstruck by the school, it was just a building, after all. She had to remind herself that Illya had never seen a school before, not even in pictures or movies. This was probably the largest building she had ever been inside, apart from Einzbern Manor, of course.

"How can I help you?" the registrar, Johanna Pohl, asked when Annie and Illya entered the main office. "Ah, you're the one who came on Friday to register that girl."

"Yes, that's right," Annie replied with the nod of her head.

"And she's to start today, correct?" Pohl asked, typing away on her desktop. "She must be present in order to be checked in."

"She is," said Annie, pointing down at Illya. "This is her."

Pohl's glasses nearly fell of her round face as she stared at Illya. "But…this girl can't be more than eight."

"I'm fourteen," Illya said with a firm smile.

"You saw her ID on Friday," Annie followed, not as kind. "Here it is again." She took Illya's ID from her pocket (she had no idea how Acht managed to get one for her) and handed it to Pohl.

"Well, you're right, Miss Leonhart, my apologies," Pohl said, eyes still wide. "Welcome to school, Miss Illyasviel. This is your schedule."

"Thank you!" Illya quipped excitedly. "Have a good day."

The next hour was spent giving Illya a brief tour of the school and familiarizing her with the location of all the classrooms. It didn't take that long, but the two of them took it very slow. Illya was very interested to look inside all of the classrooms, especially the science laboratories and the gymnasium.

Around five minutes before the first bell rang, Annie was leading Illya to her homeroom class. Illya was a couple of grades below Annie, so they didn't have class together, but they did have lunch at the same time. As they walked through the hallways, Illya naturally drew second glances from the now populated school building. Annie was mildly annoyed by it, but she supposed even she would take a slight second glance if she were in their position.

Her annoyance, though, turned into smug pleasure when the two passed Armin by the halls. Unlike the other students, he outright stared at Illya and Annie walking together in the hall, which would have pissed her off if not for the delightfully flabbergasted expression he sported. His eyes were practically popping out of his head, and Eren's weren't that much tamer. Even Mikasa looked taken aback.

Barely resisting the temptation to wave mockingly at them, Annie instead just smiled smugly, all while Illya glided through the halls as if in a dream. With a few minutes to spare, they reached Illya's homeroom, where people were already starting to file in.

"Well, you know where all your classes are," Annie said. "I guess I'll see you at lunch."

"See you at lunch!" Illya repeated back with a wide smile. She gave Annie a quick, tight hug before going inside.

Annie stared at the door for a good minute after she disappeared inside. _Please be okay,_ she hoped.

* * *

After a long morning, the bell signaling lunch finally rang, filling Annie with eagerness. She was eager for a few reasons. There was her usual ache to free herself from schooling, even for only forty-five minutes, but there was something else, too. She wanted to hear how Illya's first day was going.

It was a strange feeling, going to meet someone for lunch. Annie was so accustomed to eating lunch by herself, to the point of despising any interruption, but now she was actually going to spend the meal with someone.

She found that she was looking forward to the occasion, spending lunch like a normal girl. Annie had a very strange relationship with normality. She was by no means normal, given her past and her views toward socializing. She almost prided herself on it, but deep down, fitting in what something she craved, which is why she entered the lunchroom with the faintest of glints in eye.

Illya was already there, face passive. Wearing her school uniform, all signs of her noble background were gone, something that made Illya happy. Practically the entire school knew she was noble anyway, since she'd been seen in town quite a bit, but it was good they had no reminders.

Sitting at the end of a long, empty table in the center of the room, Illya was carefully removing her lunch from a plain, brown, paper bag. She had gotten that from Annie's house, preferring the bag to the ornate, ivory box her lunch was originally packed in.

At Annie's approach, Illya's face brightened, and Annie heaved a huge sigh of relief. Had the morning not gone well, her face would not have been so happy. No, she looked her usual, cheerful, upbeat self, which stirred Annie's heart with gladness, pure gladness at the joy of her good friend.

"Hi Annie," said Illya pleasantly.

"Hey," said Annie, taking a seat. She dug through her backpack, searching for her own lunch. "Well, what are you waiting for? Tell me all about your day."

"Oh, it was really excellent," Illya said eagerly. "I'll admit I wasn't expecting the influx of information to be quite so…heavy, but it is something I'll get used to."

"Are you sure you're okay with everything?" Annie asked, almost motherly. "You haven't had schooling your entire life. You must be years behind everybody else in math, science, pretty much everything."

"True," Illya replied, "but it's not like Grandfather kept me completely uneducated all of those years. And, well, Kiritsugu did teach me some things when I was younger." She said the name Kiritsugu as if sucking on a sour lemon.

"Okay then, that's a good thing," Annie put forth. "You weren't completely lost."

"Yeah, it was fairly smooth," Illya replied positively. "Although not completely. Math was a bit of a challenge. And in English we were learning about the legends of King Arthur, and everyone laughed when I said that he was secretly a woman."

Annie tried to keep her bewilderment as hidden as possible. _King Arthur, a woman?_ It didn't make any sense, so she decided not to pursue the topic.

"Well, I'm glad the schooling was mostly smooth sailing," said Annie. "Did you meet any of your new classmates?"

Illya shook her head. "I didn't really have time to talk to anyone, and no one seemed to want to anyway." Her face grew slightly melancholy. "But that's okay!" she exclaimed, face suddenly brightening. "It's only the first day. Making friends takes time."

Annie felt a deep sense of admiration. Despite her situation of being the "new kid," Illya maintained her unending optimism. Being the cynic that she was, though, Annie was not sure she agreed. This was the real world, and these kids weren't a welcoming lot. Even now, kids in the dining hall were stealing glances at the two of them, whispering quietly, sending boiling waves of anger through her body.

But perhaps it didn't matter that Illya's prospects of making friends were slim. To her, just being in a classroom among other students living a somewhat-ordinary life was an improvement over her previous lifestyle. Even if none of them befriended her, the presence of the students was enough for Illya.

"And, of course, I have you," Illya added with a wide smile.

Annie nodded. "That you do."

The two girls spent the next half hour or so eating their lunches and chatting amicably about light, unimportant topics. People continued to glance, and Annie did her best to ignore them. She had to keep herself together, to make Illya's experience as positive as possible. She waited so long for this, it wasn't right for her to take it away by bringing up everyone's rudeness.

"I've got to stop by my locker before the next class," Illya said five minutes before lunch ended, standing up to leave.

"I'll walk with you," Annie offered. Earlier that day, before school started, Annie and Illya had taken a few minutes to organize Illya's locker. They made it simple, nothing fancy or stupid like some of the other girls did.

"Okay, thanks," said Illya. The two scarfed down the last morsels of their lunches (Illya had a salad and Annie a bagel) before clearing up and leaving the crowded dining hall. The hallways were quite empty by comparison, with everyone still enjoying the final minutes of their break.

Illya's locker was on the second floor, the same as the dining hall, although at the other end of the building, so it was a little while before they saw it. Once they were halfway there, however, the two noticed something odd about the location of the locker. Soon, though, it became very apparent, causing the two to stop dead in their tracks.

All of the other lockers were closed, but Illya's was wide open. The locker itself was nearly empty, because its contents had been dumped into the hallway. Notebooks, loose papers, pens and pencils lay scattered throughout the hallway.

That cold fury that Annie had been trying to hold back came raging out of her. There were no outward signs that she was angry, other than a clenched fist and cold gleam in her eye, but angry she was. She was clenching her fist so tightly she thought she was going to cut her palm with her fingernails.

Illya, though, looked merely perplexed. "What happened?" she asked. "Did we…did we not close it tight enough?" By her tone, though, she knew the truth.

"I swear to god," Annie seethed, "whoever did this…"

"Annie, please stop," Illya said in a small voice, grabbing at her arm. Her face was sad, but she wore a small smile. "It's no big deal, really. Nothing I can't fix."

"But…Illya…"

"Really, I can handle it," Illya insisted. "Just…I don't like seeing you angry."

Annie blinked. Then she remembered her commitment. She wouldn't take this day away from her. She wouldn't!

Forcing herself to swallow her cold rage, Annie morphed her features into a state of calm. "You go to class," she said. "It's your first day, you shouldn't be late."

"But what about—"

"I'll clean this up," said Annie. "Don't worry. Like you said, it's nothing that can't be fixed."

Illya looked like she wanted to protest, but Annie's face must have indicated that she wasn't going to have it, for she just nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Annie." She gave the older girl a quick hug before trotting off.

Once she was gone, Annie welcomed back her rage. She quickly gathered all of the fallen items and put them back in the locker. There would be time later to reorganize everything, and there was something else she had to do first.

Standing up, she climbed the staircase to the third floor and walked briskly down the hall. It was a good thing no one was in the hallway; anyone who saw her face in that moment would have jumped out of their skins in fright, such was her level of rage at those responsible for this incident.

She didn't even hesitate when she reached the lounge. She barged right in, flinging the door open with such strength that it bounced off the wall and rebounded shut on its own behind her. The whole gang was gathered in the room, all eleven of them. The looks on their faces were incredibly satisfying. Eren's jaw was so far dropped that bits of food fell out.

"I bet you all are feeling pretty damn smug right now," Annie said in a low, penetrating voice. "You're all nothing but a bunch of bastards!"

"Annie, what—" Armin tried to say.

"Touch her stuff again, and there'll be hell to pay," Annie interjected. "Try me if you don't think I can do it, I dare you! I swear to god, one touch, and I'll unleash holy hell on all of you." And then she left them, in stunned silence, slamming the door behind her.


	14. Into the Deep

The next day was the first time in Annie's life that she remembered feeling awkward. She had so little social interaction, and so little desire for it, that there was no room for it. Walking into homeroom, though, she felt the sensation flood through her as she averted her eyes from the people she chewed into the prior afternoon.

For the most part, they did the same, though whether in awkwardness or in fear was not clear. For her part, Annie hoped it was the latter. Only Mikasa acted normal, save for the cold, guarded stare she sent Annie's way. Annie met her stare for stare before sitting at her desk.

The rest of the day past uneventfully, at least for her. For Illya it was another exciting day at school. With a full day now under her belt, Illya walked through the halls with more external confidence, comfort, and familiarity. It was observing that which allowed Annie to overcome the awkwardness.

Yet when the end of the day arrived, and Annie rummaged through her locker to collect some things, a different feeling arose within her, something more familiar. She was tired of dealing with all of this. She had been feeling that for a while, but this was the first time she admitted it to herself. Constant maneuvering, constantly being watched and wondered about, all of it seemed to gather on her shoulders with a desire to crush her to the floor. And she was weary.

"Are you okay?" Illya asked suddenly, snapping Annie out of her somber reflections. The younger girl had gathered her things and walked up to Annie's locker, as planned. It was Tuesday, and the two were headed to Einzbern Manor for their usually scheduled martial arts lesson.

"I'm fine," Annie said, a bit more sullen than intended. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep!" Illya exclaimed. "Ready when you are."

A small rivet of ease bloomed inside Annie. No matter how down she was, Illya's never-wavering, almost childish optimism managed to lift her spirits.

The two left the building amidst a flow of people. The plan was to head toward Annie's house, like they did yesterday, but instead of going there they were to make a mad dash up the Einzbern Forest path while the coast was clear. Annie had argued that they move the lessons to her house to avoid Illya travelling the path while it was early (the whole point of enrolling her at school to begin with), but Illya had objected, saying it wasn't fair that Annie hosted all the time.

The sky outside was tinged orange and pink, a result of the sun that was in the process of disappearing beneath the obscured horizon. It was a rare day that the sky was clear of grey, heavy clouds, something which the two of them enjoyed looking at. It had been quite a while since Annie had seen a beautiful sunset.

As it was most days, the road running alongside the forest was practically empty. Once the pathway was reached, the two turned and ran up it until Edensburg was out of sight. Due to the density of the trees, they didn't have to run for that long. Annie was hardly winded, and neither was Illya. Annie smiled a fraction in satisfaction; Illya's stamina had come a long way in a short time.

"Leysritt or Sella should be waiting for us not too far up the road," Illya remarked.

"Sounds good," Annie replied. In Annie's few weeks travelling to the Einzbern household, it was usually Sella who came to pick her up, thought Leysritt had driven down once or twice. Unbeknownst to Sella (or Acht), Leysritt was the one who drove Illya down and back whenever she snuck into town.

A sudden, obvious question popped into Annie's head. "Hey Illya," Annie called. "Who are they?"

"Hmm?" Illya asked, turning to Annie with slight puzzlement on her face. "Who?"

"Leysritt and Sella," Annie clarified. "They've got to be part of your family, right? I mean their hair and eyes are exactly the same as yours."

Illya didn't reply right away. She made out as if trying to pick her words carefully for accuracy, but the hesitancy to answer was detectable despite her attempt to hide it. It was a tone that Annie was quite familiar with when asking Illya seemingly innocent questions about her life.

"I guess you can say that," Illya said slowly. "Leys and Sella are like cousins of mine."

 _Like?_ Annie asked herself. Either they were or they weren't. Yet another evasive answer. Desperately, Annie tried to cling to her policy of not getting involved in others' business, but she was only an imperfect human, and there were only so many mysterious answers that a normal human could ignore.

"If they are like cousins to you, then why do they serve you?" Annie inquired.

"Well, that's their job, Annie," Illya replied. Her tone was firmer in that answer; she had been ready for the question. "They're my attendants, but they have grown very close to me over the years."

"That's very nice," Annie replied, and she said it sincerely. The more people closer to a person, the better. Annie didn't that reply either, she could plainly see how close the two attendants were to their little mistress.

Up ahead, the familiar limousine came into view. Standing outside the driver's door, leaning on it, was Leysritt. She was wearing her familiar outfit, with the two white strands of hair curling to either side of her face. She wore her familiar, simple expression, adorned with a small smile.

"Hello Illya, Annie," she greeted. "How have your days been?"

"Very nice, thank you," Annie replied. Leysritt truly was a sweetheart.

The two piled into the limousine and Leysritt took off down the path in short order. The path was barely wide enough for the limo to fit, but it did. The ride was bumpy, though, as there were many roots and snags on the dirt path, but Annie had driven up here enough to be used to it by that point.

In due time, Einzbern Manor appeared over the treetops, as it always did, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Annie had never seen it with a clear sky during sunset. The orange and red of the setting sun glinted off the many glass windows and cast a carmine glow on the stone and brick walls. Yet however bright the light was, it couldn't find its way inside, it couldn't penetrate that stone façade. Einzbern Manor, and its secrets, were as closed as ever.

"What are you thinking about?" Illya inquired, tapping Annie on the shoulder.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Annie shook her head. "Nothing."

The limousine pulled up to the large, oak door at the front of the palace with an abrupt stop. Leysritt put it into park as Illya and Annie exited, both eager to get inside and out of the chill. As usual, no one came to greet them when they entered, and the large, grand entrance hall was completely deserted.

"Do you want something to eat first, or shall we start right away?" Illya asked. "I don't know that I want to eat too much before exercising."

"Right," said Annie. "Probably not the best idea." A pause. "I do need to use the bathroom, though." In all her time coming to the Einzbern Manor, she hadn't needed to use the bathroom once.

"Oh, sure," Illya said. "Come on, I'll show you where it is."

"Illya…" Leysritt trailed off. She sounded puzzled, as if something was amiss.

"Leysritt," Illya replied simply, in a tone that desired some matter be put to rest. "Come on, Annie."

Annie followed Illya into a portion of the manor that she had never seen. That wasn't saying much, since she had only seen two rooms, but Annie was still surprised that she was allowed to trod here. Instead of going up the grand staircase, Illya led her down a hallway behind it, lined with several doors to either side and lit via candelabras.

"Hey, what was that about? With Leysritt, I mean."

"Oh, don't worry about her!" Illya quipped in a quick, casual tone. "She's a bit…slow sometimes."

She certainly came off that way sometimes, Annie had to admit. Yet she couldn't help the feeling Illya halted a subject that she didn't want Leysritt to bring up.

On the left side, between two doors, a narrow staircase led downward. Unlike the grand staircase in the entrance hall, which was covered in red carpet and had golden railings, this stairwell was just plain stone. Illya turned and descended the stairs, beckoning Annie to follow.

"Jeez, Illya," Annie commented. "Is there no bathroom by your bedroom?"

"No, unfortunately," Illya replied. "It's an old castle, so all the bathrooms are on the lowest stories."

At the bottom, a hallway similar to the one above ran deeper into the bowels of Einzbern Manor. There were fewer doors, however, and the hallway was even narrower than the one above.

"The restroom is the fourth door on the right," Illya explained. "Meet me right back upstairs as soon as you're finished, I'm going to fix us up some small snacks. Don't want to eat too much, but we can't practice on empty stomachs!" With that last exclamation, Illya disappeared back up the stairs in a whirl.

And suddenly Annie found herself alone, amidst the closed in walls and secrets of Einzbern Manor.

"Don't even think about it," Annie said aloud, scolding herself. She had to nip that temptation in the bud before it even blossomed. She wanted to keep Illya's privacy, which she had a right to like anyone else. She wanted to prove that she wasn't like Armin and his army of sneaks.

And reverberating in the back of her mind was one line, uttered by a certain powerful, elderly man. _You are not to wander the manor. Ever._

Annie walked straight in the direction Illya told her, stopping at the fourth door on the right. The bathroom inside was something out of medieval times. A mere hole in the ground that was bottomless to her eyes. Normally she would have been very annoyed, but she was aiming for haste, to do her business and leave, so all she did was lightly sigh.

Once she was done (thank goodness she only had to pee), Annie left the bathroom much more relaxed, even sparing a thought bemoaning the lack of soap and water. She opened the wooden door and reentered the hallway, turning to the left to go back to the staircase, when something caught her eye.

To the right of the restroom the hallway continued for several feet, then made a hard-right turn. At that turn, glinting off the stone wall, was a deep, blue glow. It was an unnatural blue, not like the sky or the sea, but darker and harsher.

And her resistance, carefully and willfully upheld for three weeks, crumbled into ash.

Whether Annie moved her feet or her feet moved her, she could not tell. All she knew was that curiosity was carrying her to that glow. Here she was, deep inside a manor that was purposefully hidden from the entire world, faced with an abnormal, strange glow. The curiosity, in the moment, was just too overwhelming to overcome.

Around the corner she went, where she discovered more doors lining both sides of the hall, which ended in a dead end in the distance. On the right side there was a door at regular, frequent intervals, but the left side contained a wide gap between two of the wooden doors. It was from under the last door before the gap that the light was emanating.

Slowly, Annie approached the door. She grabbed onto the brass knob, grasping it with an iron-hot grip. She hesitated a moment, taking a shaky breath, and then she opened the door and entered the room.

Immediately a grand wash of that blue light hit her eyes, forcing her to cover them with her hand. She stood there in that position for a few moments, naught but the blue light in her vision as her eyes adjusted. When she felt it was safe to open, she slowly removed her hand, shocked at the intensity of the light and curious about its source. When her hand was back at her side she cast a sweeping gaze over the room.

She was standing on a platform, completely made of a black stone, that stood five feet above the floor, also of the same stone. The ceiling was much higher than that of the hallway, at least twenty-five feet above the floor. Annie was taken aback by the size of the room, and how it was tucked away so neatly among cramped corridors.

But what captured her interest the most was the source of that bright light. In the center of the room, and taking up most of the room, was a very large pool. It was at least fifty feet long and forty feet wide. She could not tell how deep it was, for the glow of the water was too bright for that. Yet she could discern some objects floating just beneath the water's surface. Annie couldn't make out what they were, only that they were there, dark spots amongst the glowing liquid.

"What is this place?" Annie wondered in a whisper. She felt a strong sense of awe, as if she were standing in front of a wonder, but under that was a layer of apprehension and nervousness. The stone walls, the harshness of the light, all of it had a very dark, mysterious feel that she couldn't explain. To put it simply, she was on edge.

At the far end of the platform, a short ramp led down to the main floor. Annie slowly descended it, eyes ever fixed on the pool, trying to make out the hundreds of objects that floated in it. Some were larger than others. Some were simple, mere cylindrical shapes, while others were more complex. They began to look familiar as she approached, they began to look like things she had seen before.

Annie reached the edge of the pool, where water was gently lapping over the pool's side and onto the floor. As it did, one of the smaller objects drifted toward her, becoming clear as it did so. It looked cylindrical, widening slightly at one end, and was slightly bent in the middle. It was long, too. About as long as her arm…

And then her eyes widened. It _was_ an arm!

Annie jumped back with an audible gasp. Her eyes darted around the pool as she finally recognized the objects it contained. Bodies. Hundreds of dead bodies.

All of them showed signs of a vicious cruel death. Some were still completely intact, but sported deep, angry gashes and rent clothing. Others were completely torn to shreds, with body parts strewn across the pool. A hand in one place, a leg in another, half a torso here, the other half there. The whole sight was sickening.

Taking a horrified look at the whole pool, Annie did something she hadn't done in a very long time. She screamed.

With a sudden jolt of terror and adrenaline, Annie darted back up the ramp, back across the platform, and out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Once she shut the door she closed her eyes tight, desperately trying to force that gory image from her head. Her breathing was heavy and panicked as she thought what was in that pool, about what really went on in this house, and about what could happen to her.

 _I have to get out of this place,_ she told herself. _I have to get out of here! I have to get out of here!_

"Annie?" a soft voice called out.

Annie opened her eyes. Standing a few feet away, eyes incredibly wide and face horrified, was Illya.

"Get away from me," Annie panted, her voice low and dangerous. "Get away from me!"

Annie bounded to her feet and pushed Illya to the wall, not realizing or caring how hard she did so. Two minutes later she burst out of the manor's front door without looking back. The beautiful sunset was gone, the night sky cast gloomy shadows on Einzbern Manor, and there were clouds on the horizon.


	15. Illyasviel von Einzbern

"I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna die."

That was what Annie told herself as she walked down the forest path toward Edensburg. The air was stingingly cold, wrapping around Annie with its talons. Annie shivered severely as she slowly walked down the path; she had only been out there for ten minutes, but she already lost the feeling in her toes.

But she didn't care. There was a very strong chance she'd get frostbite tonight, but she didn't care. She would take her chances with the weather if it meant getting away from that manor. The horrifying images of rent bodies piled up in that pool still flashed in her memory. They scared her, and gave her the determination to move forward. She would not end up among those bodies.

"I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna die."

A gust of wind cut through the air, whipping Annie's blonde hair free of its ribbon. The gust's strength was nearly enough to knock Annie off balance, and snow was blown into her face. With a shuddering grunt, Annie plowed forward, slowly, step by step by step.

"I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna die."

Slowly, Annie pulled out her cell phone. Still no service. It was at least a few miles to Edensburg, but she didn't have to make it all the way there. All she had to do was get close enough to regain cell service and then call the police to come pick her up. She could make it that far. She _would_ make it that far.

"I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna die…" Another gust of wind blew, and Annie started to swoon. "I'm not gonna die. I'm not…I'm not gonna…"

She barely noticed hitting the ground, her face meeting a thin layer of snow. She kept muttering "I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna die" until her vision went dark.

* * *

The first thing she heard was a crackling sound. It sounded very nice…very familiar. There was an orange glow chasing the blackness away. It was an inviting glow, one that wanted to reach out and embrace her and envelop her in comfort. Slowly, she reached out to it, gaining more energy as she did so, enough to open her eyes.

The glow came from a small, crackling fire a few feet away. Lifting her head, she saw that she was lying down with a thick blanket covering her smack in the middle of the pathway. A batch of clouds had completely covered the sky, obscuring the moon. And sitting across the fire was a familiar, white-haired girl.

Annie immediately shot to her feet. Her vision immediately swooned again, but she put a finger to her forehead and snapped out of it. "No, I told you to stay away!"

"Annie, stop!" Illya pleaded, eyes darting up in surprise at Annie's sudden rise. "You'll nearly freeze to death again!"

"I don't care," Annie spat. "I'm not going back with you. I won't be friends with a murderer!"

"It's not what you think," Illya replied tearfully. "Please, you'll—"

"No, I think a collection of mauled bodies is exactly what I think it is," Annie replied severely. "Don't come after me this time, I mean it!"

As soon as Annie turned away she felt something wrap around her wrists. She looked down to see thin, glowing white lines tie themselves firmly around her wrists. A few more did the same at her ankles. All of the strings stretched back toward the fire, right to where Illya's hand was held outward.

Annie's eyes bulged. "What the—what is this?!"

"Please," Illya said in the softest, saddest voice Annie had ever heard. "Please let me explain."

Annie tugged at the roped with all her strength. She tugged and tugged and tugged, trying to tear the strings apart. Not even one of them snapped. She was a strong woman, someone who was very experienced in combat, someone who exercised almost daily, and she couldn't snap a few strings.

Annie looked up at Illya, eyes still wide. Between breaths, she said, "what….what's going on?"

"It's magic," Illya replied simply, eyes trained on the floor and face covered in shadow. "I'm a mage, Annie."

"A mage," Annie repeated. Her eyes narrowed. "Come on, Illya. Don't—"

Annie was cut off as Illya raised her other hand. More white filaments shot out, twisting and contorting into a shape. The thing had a round, curving body and a small head, with wings shooting to either side. The small bird rested on Illya's palm, then shot up into the air, circling the sky above where Illya sat.

"Illya…"

"See?" the younger girl replied, voice dead and heart-rending. "I told you I wasn't lying."

"I—I see," Annie stuttered. Then she shook her head and regained her steel. "But I don't care what that is. This doesn't explain, or excuse, the bodies that are in your basement."

"They're homunculi," Illya said, her voice quivering. "Please, I said I would explain." Tears were openly flowing down her face, dripping into the snow. Each tear was like a bullet in Annie's chest. For all that she saw in the basement, the sight of the little girl crying so mournfully was like a stake in her heart.

She was completely torn. Half of her wanted to dash away and report the Einzberns to the police. The other half wanted to hug Illya tight, to comfort her and tell her that everything would be okay. She stared back down at her wrists. _Well, it's not like I'm going anywhere anyway._

"Okay," Annie said reluctantly. "Just start talking."

c

Illya sniffed. "Thank you, Annie, I—"

"I said start talking," Annie interrupted bluntly. "Why are there corpses in your basement?"

Illya's breath caught for a moment, then her sad complexion returned. She sighed. "It's a long story, Annie. The Einzberns…we've been around for a long time."

"I have time," Annie replied, holding up her bound hands.

"Okay," said Illya softly. "Here it goes." She took a deep breath. "It's like I said, Annie. All of those bodies are homunculi, artificial human beings created through magecraft. Creation of homunculi through alchemy are the Einzberns' specialty."

"Artificial human beings?" Images of those bodies flashed through Annie's head again. Bodies that were incredibly lifelike and real. They were just fake?

"Yeah. Strange, I know, but it's the truth," said Illya. "The greatest of all Einzbern homunculi was Justeaze, the woman photographed all over the palace. After her death, Grandfather fashioned all homunculi in imitation of her." Illya squeezed her eyes shut and took a shuddering breath. "Including my mother."

Annie's breath caught. Annie had thought that Justeaze and Irisviel looked alike because they were related. In truth, Irisviel was artificially made to resemble Justeaze. Which meant…

"Illya…you're…"

Illya took a deep breath. "Yes, Annie. I'm half homunculus myself."

"Oh my god," Annie breathed in shock. Everything clicked into place. Why Illya was so short and small for her age. Why she had white hair and red eyes. Why she said her mother had 'strange genes.' It was no wonder Illya's only desire was to live like a normal girl. Everything about her was as abnormal as possible.

"When a homunculus is created, Grandfather expels it from the manor and into Einzbern Forest," Illya continued somberly, wringing her hands. "If it can find its way back, it is deemed strong enough to exist and is kept. If not…well, you've seen the bodies. Sometimes it's the cold, most of the time its wolves, but Grandfather always manages to get the bodies back."

"That's…that's so cruel," Annie managed. If she was shaken before, now she was completely unhinged. She thought those bodies were horrible before, but now…She almost wanted Illya to stop. She didn't want to hear any more.

"You have to understand, Annie," Illya explained softly, sadly. "Homunculi aren't born with any feelings or emotions. Grandfather doesn't assign any human value to us. We are just dolls in his eyes, nothing but tools to be used, and then discarded when no longer useful.

"My mother was created in much the same way. She was just a doll, unthinking, unfeeling, just doing as she was told. But then Kiritsugu came into her life, two people unexpectedly brought together by fate. He taught her everything about the world, but more importantly, he taught her how to laugh, how to cry, how to _feel._ And then the unthinkable happened."

"What?" Annie asked, hanging on every word.

Illya smiled sadly. "They fell in love."

Illya explained the entire story. About the Holy Grail that can grant wishes, and Irisviel's role as the Grail's vessel. About the Holy Grail War, a fight between seven mages for control of the Grail way off in Japan. And about Irisviel's ultimate fate. Annie listened quietly, enthralled by the dark, enchanting tale.

"I didn't know it at the time," Illya said, "but it was never intended for my mother to survive. It was her fate to become the Grail, from the day she was created. But she accepted her fate. She was willing to be sacrificed to achieve the dream of her family. She was willing to do it for Kiritsugu. For me.

"When the time came, my mother died and became the vessel for the Holy Grail. But Kiritsugu…Kiritsugu had the Grail, and he _destroyed_ it. He betrayed my mother's sacrifice."

Illya's voice was no longer sad, but was now filled with cold anger. "He claimed that he loved her, but he inexplicably threw her sacrifice away. He claimed that he loved me, but never came back for me. He is still in Japan today, living with his new child, Shirou, without a thought for me."

Annie searched for something to say, and couldn't find anything. For years Annie thought that she had it rough, growing up without parents in an orphanage, but her experiences didn't hold a candle to Illya's. Compared to Illya's life, Annie's was like a Hawaiian paradise

Illya sighed. "So there you have it, Annie. All the cats are out of the bag, now. Since the last Holy Grail War, I've done nothing but practice my magecraft alone in the manor, all alone, with nobody in my life save Leysritt and Sella, and Grandfather. All my energies trained for the day when I, well…"

"When you?"

Illya looked up at her. "When the next Holy Grail War comes, I will be the Grail's vessel."

Annie stared at her, mouth agape. "No, Illya, you can't!"

"It will happen whether I want it to or not," Illya replied mutedly. "That is how Grandfather created my mother, and that is how I am as Irisviel's daughter. That is what Grandfather is training me for. That is what fate has in store for me."

Illya gasped in surprise as Annie suddenly enveloped her in a tight hug. The older girl pressed Illya's head against her chest, holding her close, like a mother would a daughter.

"I don't care," Annie whispered, soft yet firm. "I don't care what fate has in store. You're going to be a normal girl, remember?"

Illya stared up at Annie's face, eyes as wide as the moon. In that moment, the dark eyes of Illya's past, reflected in her stormy eyes, began to part. For the first time since Annie met her, Illya looked truly hopeful.

And then she started to cry. Illya buried her head in Annie's chest and wailed. Her sobs were loud and unconstrained, sailing into the woods like a storm surge during a hurricane. Annie could feel the wetness of the tears on her shoulder, she could feel Illya shaking and shuddering in her grasp.

"Shhh," Annie whispered, stroking Illya's hair. "Shhhhhhh." She didn't say anything else but that, slowly soothing her friend. The two remained in that position for a full five minutes, embraced by the warm glow of the fire. A steady snow began to fall, putting the fire out, but it did not affect them. The cold did not touch them, the wind did not bother them. In that small space, for once, there was peace.

Eventually, Illya's sobbing died down to some sniffles, and she lifted her head. Her usual pale complexion was now carmine, from her cheeks and nose to her puffy eyes. Strangely, she had an aura of peace around her, the kind of peace that results when someone finally releases a horde of pent-up emotions.

"Do you think it's possible?" Illya sniffled. "For me to live like a normal girl?"

Annie gripped Illya firmly by the shoulders. She lowered her head until it was level with Illya's, and she stared directly into those bright red eyes.

"Illya," she said, "I don't know a thing about this magic stuff. I don't know if there's a way to avert this Grail transformation, but if there's a way, we're going to find it. By God, you are going to get the normal life you want, Illyasviel von Einzbern."

Illya's eyes gleamed, as if there were more tears on the way, but her mouth shifted into a small smile. "Thanks, Annie," she whispered.

"It's the least I owe you," Annie replied simply. "I…I made a rush to judgement today Illya. I called you some things I shouldn't have, and shoved you against a wall. I'm really sorry."

Illya's response was to simply hug Annie again, this time a much gentler, warmer, happier hug. Annie could feel the warmth tingling up the arms that were wrapped around Illya's torso, as well as up her spine and into her shoulders. For the first time, Annie felt like she truly knew what having a friend was like.

Annie carried Illya back down the path to the manor, piggy-back style, to save the smaller, worn girl a tough, cold walk. Illya's head was nesting comfortably in the crook of Annie's neck, and her even breathing almost convinced Annie that she had fallen asleep. _Good,_ Annie thought. _She could use some comfort and relaxation right now._

Soon, the light of the manor came back into view. The soft, golden light emanating from some of the manor's windows spilled out to where Annie and Illya were standing. Gently, Annie placed Illya back on the ground.

"Well, I think we'll forgo practice tonight," Annie declared. "We've both been through quite an ordeal, I think."

"I agree," Illya exhaled. "I'll go fetch Leysritt to drive you home." She turned to go back inside the manor, but then paused and turned back, a thoughtful look on your face. "One more thing."

"What is it?" Annie inquired.

"You look really pretty with her hair down," she commented with a smile. Then she turned back around and entered the manor.

Annie slowly ran her fingers through her loose hair, feeling the smoothness and silkiness of the flowing blonde locks. She exhaled contentedly. _I suppose I do._


	16. The Last Straw

The snowstorm worsened overnight, and had become a howling blizzard by morning. The snow was falling so quick that Annie could hardly see anything outside her window. The wind was blowing hard, sending the falling snow in all different directions and creating snowdrifts on the streets and sidewalks.

Annie sighed. A blizzard was the last thing she wanted to deal with today. School would still be in session (it hardly ever wasn't), so she would have to walk the distance to the school building in that horrible mess. _Can we ever get just three days without a snowy day?_ Annie complained wistfully. Groaning, Annie got up from her bed and readied herself for the day.

Illya arrived right on time, as usual, bundled up so much in coats and scarves that she was practically buried.

"Jeez," Annie commented. "You could survive a nuclear war wearing that."

"Do you not see the storm outside?" Illya chuckled, removing her scarf from over her mouth. "I like the snow, but not _that_ much snow."

Annie shook her head with a smile and retreated into the kitchen. "Here, I made some hot chocolate to sip on the road." She handed the younger girl a to-go cup, steam curling from the slit in the cover.

"Thanks," said Illya. "We should leave now, or we'll be late!"

The walk over to school was just as bitter as Annie was expecting. Snow was blowing in her face and seeping into her shoes, chilling her toes to the bone, but it wasn't anything she hadn't dealt with in the past. And now, she had a friend to keep her company and sip hot chocolate with, which made the ordeal more tolerable than those of past storms.

Despite the howling wind, the two managed to have a conversation, an amicable, light-hearted one. The discussions of the prior evening were still fresh in Annie's mind, but she did not touch upon them. Illya had already bared her soul once, no need to do it again. One time was enough.

Yet Annie felt their friendship was stronger because of that conversation. There was something about knowing so much about Illya's life, and Illya knowing so much about Annie's, that made Annie feel closer and more comfortable with Illya. It was strange; prior to meeting the pale-haired girl, Annie would have thought she'd be worse off if someone knew so much about her. But the opposite was the case; the more she opened up to Illya, the better she felt toward her.

Before the two knew it, the school building loomed in front of them. Despite leaving on time, the snow had slowed them down enough that there only remained fewer than five minutes until class began. A steady stream of people was trickling into the building, some people walking in a lone and others with a group of friends. Annie and Illya hurried to join the stream, eager to get out of the blizzard.

"I swear to God," Annie grumbled, shaking snow from her jacket. "One of these days I'm going to move somewhere that isn't so cold and snowy. This is ridiculous."

Illya chuckled. "Oh, come on Annie, this isn't that bad."

"Not that bad?" Annie turned to her in surprise as they continued walking down the hallway. "Constant snow, biting wind, how is that not so bad?"

"I like it," Illya shrugged. "I've always been a lover of winter. If it were up to me I'd have it winter all year long."

"You're nuts," Annie said, shaking her head with a sigh and a laugh. "I'm icy enough as it is, I don't need any more."

"If it were up to me, I would live in a winter wonderland!" Illya declared playfully. "A place where it snowed all day, and I would live in my own castle made completely of ice! And—"

Illya's sudden pause cut Annie's laughter short. "What happened?" she asked Illya, turning her head toward her friend's.

Illya just looked straight ahead, a blank expression on her face. Annie followed her eyes to where Illya was looking, and settled her gaze on the floor just a few feet away from where the two of them were standing still amidst the noisy, crowded hallway. At the stretch of floor littered with textbooks, notebooks, pens, and paper. School supplies that originated from Illya's wide-open locker.

"What…I don't…" Illya trailed off, as if completely befuddled.

Annie, meanwhile, clenched her fists in an all-too familiar expression of rage. She clenched her fists so tight that her long, unpolished nails broke the skin of the palms of her hands and drew some blood. Her face darkened, but her eyes were gleaming with a raging fire fueled by fury.

"You've got to be _kidding_ me," Annie growled in a low voice. At that moment the bell rang, and the hallways started to empty.

Illya sighed very sadly. "I suppose I'll be late for class today." She shuffled her feet forward despondently to clean up the mess.

"Go to class," Annie instructed, trying to direct the harshness in her voice away from her friend. " If you hurry you can make it in time. I'll clean this up for you."

"Annie, no," Illya insisted. "I can't ask you to do this for me again—"

"Go!" Annie interjected powerfully, leaving no room for argument. Illya stared at her for a moment, then nodded. Giving Annie a quick hug, Illya walked quickly down the hallway, little legs working hard to maintain a quick pace. Annie's face softened as she watched her go, then hardened again as she returned her attention back to the mess in front of her.

Bending down, Annie began mindlessly placing the trashed items back into the locker. She didn't even consider trying to ponder who would do this for a second time; she didn't care the slightest bit that this would make her late to homeroom by a mile. All she tried to focus on was putting the things back in place, trying to drown her cold fury in the work.

A small smattering of chuckles hovered on the edge of her attention, snapping her out of her forced concentration. At the end of the hallway stood five people, the sight of whom just made her blood boil. At the front of the group were Emilia and Rose, two of the girls with garish-makeup that had bothered her at lunch a few weeks back. Behind them were three guys, all of them from that large group that had that stupid competition amongst themselves.

"Who knew I'd enjoy seeing her on her hands and knees so much?" one of the boys declared as the entire group approached.

"That's where she belongs!" Rose followed with a nasty sneer. "You should have seen the look on her face when she saw the locker!"

Annie turned her head away, shuddering as she avoided the eyes of her harrassers. What had she done to deserve this? All she wanted to do was live her life the way she pleased. All she wanted was to be friends with whomever she pleased. Was that too much to ask? Was that an unfair request to make?

"I kinda wish it was the other girl, though," Emilia said with fake wistfulness as the five closed in a surrounded her. "Her horrifying outfits deserve to collect dust on that dirty floor, but this is good too!"

 _No,_ Annie thought to herself. _Fair and unfair have nothing to do with it._ For the past few weeks, she had finally seen a good side to life. She had finally begun to think that perhaps there was a bright side to existance. But in that moment, she was cruelly reminded of how unfair, unrelenting life really was.

"How does this feel, Leonhart?" A boy maliciously whispered in her ear. It was the boy whose arm she had twisted the day before she met Illya. "How does it feel to be humiliated? This is _exactly_ what trash like you deserves, you bitch."

Looking back, Annie couldn't be so sure what had happened, except that something inside her snapped. Days of mounting pressure, weeks of unwanted scrutiny, months of loneliness, years of hardship, all had slowly amassed inside of her, and now the damn had finally broken. Slowly, Annie stood up, back still facing the group. For a single moment, she stood still as stone.

Then, with lightning speed, she jammed her elbow into someone's nose, feeling the unmistakable crack of bone as she did so. It was a satisfying sound, but not as satisfying as the loud, pained grunt of the guy she had struck.

After that, instinct took over, and her hand-to hand combat skills came right into play. Annie kicked out with her right leg, connecting with Emilia's stomach and sending her flying down the hallway. She spun around and socked Rose right in the jaw, forcing the girl to crumple to the ground with a high-pitched whimper.

By the time that all happened, the other two boys had snapped out of their stupor and rushed Annie in a fit of rage, but it was no use. Their sheer, unguided strength was no use for the cold precision of Annie's skills. She sidestepped the first guy, the one who had whispered in her ear, then snatched the wrist of the second. She twisted his arm hard, eliciting a painful wail, then lifted him up and flipped him over her back, slamming him onto the tiled floor.

She turned around just in time to catch the fist of the last guy, the one she had sidestepped, before it found her face. Annie kneed the bastard right in his gut, which forced him up against the wall of lockers. With one hand, Annie grabbed the guy's shirt, while she used the other to repeatedly punch the guy in the face. "How. Does. This. Feel. Asshole!" she said, punctuating each word with a hard punch.

"Miss Leonhart!" someone yelled. It seemed so low and distant to her, that's how much Annie was focused in on pounding the guy in front of her. She didn't hear the shouts, nor did she hear the rush of footsteps.

Suddenly, Annie was snapped back to reality when rough hands clapsed her shoulders and pulled her away. She hardly flailed, only watched half in satisfaction as the guy crumpled to the floor, face full of blood. The hallway was filled with people, students and teachers from the hallway's classrooms, all of them with wide eyes and stunned faces.

The two people who were holding Annie in the death grip were teachers, and one of them was Mr. Schultz, her homeroom teacher, fresh from Annie's homeroom class that was just down the hall. She recognized a bunch of people from her homeroom class in the crowd, including Armin and his friends.

"Move your legs, Miss Leonhart," Schultz ordered in a severe tone. "Off to Principal Haas' office with you!"

Slowly, Annie began moving her legs, a cold look on her face. Everyone had their eyes trained right on her, stares that seemed to want to penetrate straight onto her very soul, stares that made her want to cringe. Teachers moved in to help the beaten kids to the nurse's office.

The scene she left behind was ugly, but she didn't regret what she had done in the slightest. There was no doubt in her mind that those jackasses deserved what she gave them. She remained outwardly neutral, but her rage toward them still pulsed within her veins.

The office when empty when she arrived, so Schultz instructed her to sit in the visitors' chair and wait for Haas to return. He left her alone, closing the door behind her. Annie sat there all by herself for over ten minutes. The solitude, coupled with the looming consequences, almost threatened her resolve, but Annie hardened. She couldn't give into them, not now.

Principal Haas walked into the office nearly fifteen minutes after Annie has first arrived. He briskly walked over to his desk and took a seat, resting his chin on the intertwined knuckles of his hands. His eyes were searching, trying to look into Annie's eyes and beyond, and finding nothing.

"Miss Leonhart…" he trailed off, unable to find words to say. He clapsed his hands together. "I have been the principal at this school for twelve years…and I cannot say I have seen anything like this happen here before today. You've been at this school for a few months now. Model student, great grades, no problems with any teachers or any students. Why, Miss Leonhart?"

Annie scoffed, letting some of that emotion seep into her voice. "No problems with any students, huh? Is that what you think? I've had those bullies bother me at lunch. They've peppered me and my friend Illya with disgusting insults. They've dumped her locker, _twice!_ I've had people follow us home from school, just to find out where she lives! No one can just leave us _alone!_ "

Haas' knuckles whitened with the tightness of his fists. "Insults?" he shot back. "A broken nose, three students with broken ribs, one with a snapped wrist, and your excuse is that they insulted you? There is no excuse for violence, Annie Leonhart. None!"

Those words were like a slap in the face. This…this dumb shithead thought he could lecture her on what was appropriate and what was inappropriate? How could he know what it was like? The constant bullying. The poor, helpless look on Illya's face when she saw her ruined locker. Haas didn't know a single thing about what it was like to get harassed like this!

"Do you realize, Miss Leonhart, that these students could press charges?" Haas continued, exasperated. "I can hardly blame them if they did. Do you not feel the slightest bit of remorse?"

Out of the corner of her eyes, Annie glanced down at her hands, and knuckles that were stained with blood. She had been practicing her fighting skills all her life, but she had never used them in a real fight until that day. She had a feeling that the bloodstains wouldn't fade so easily.

But then she remembered that one day at lunch. Those thirsy eyes, that hungry smile. That light, greedy, unwanted caress of her cheek. And she had her answer.

"No," she said resolutely. "I don't regret a thing."

"Suspended," was Haas' stern reply. "Today and tomorrow, and you're lucky it's not longer than that. Get out of this building immediately!"

Annie briskly, angrily rose from her chair and spun out of the room without another word. She shouldn't have expected an ounce of fairness from this place. She strode down the hallway eager to leave this horrible building behind. She was sick of this place, it had given her nothing but grief!

 _I have to get away,_ she thought desperately, letting her emotions rule her. _I have to get away from this school, this town, and everyone in it! I have to!_

Then she came to the front door, and Illya was there waiting for her, eyes wide and tearful. The little girl ran up to her and hugged her, Illya's head barely reaching Annie's midsection. "It's okay, Annie," she repeated, over and over, trying to comfort her. But Annie hardly noticed, for a sudden, far-fetched idea popped into her head.

"Come on, Ilya," Annie said gently. She removed Illya from around her and tugged her arm, leading her out of the building and into the snow. "We're going."

"Huh? Going where?" Illya asked, confused.

"We're gonna get you home to pack your bags," Annie replied simply, but firmly. "We're off to Japan."


	17. Escape

Annie watched as whatever color there was in Illya's face drained away. "J—Japan?" the younger girl stuttered. "What do you mean, Japan?"

"I mean exactly what I said," Annie said resolutely. She continued to lead Illya by the arm away from the school. The snow was falling heavily, but Annie trudged through, not feeling the cold. Neither of them was wearing a coat, but that didn't matter. Nothing else mattered but getting her plan underway as soon as possible.

"But, why…"

"It's very simple," Annie explained, practically dragging Illya along. "I need to get away from here for a few days. I've had it with this school and I've had it with the people inside it. You have a score to settle with your father. It's the perfect location to go to."

"Annie, we can't just pick up and trek to Japan all of a sudden!" Illya exclaimed. "How are we going to get there?"

"I've been saving the money Acht has been paying me for your lessons," Annie explained. "Should be enough for two airplane tickets. I'll buy them tonight."

Annie led Illya into the café where the two of them had their first meal together. It was practically empty, since everyone was at work or at school. Annie sat down with Illya and ordered two mugs of hot tea.

"Annie, please!" Illya insisted. "I know you're upset, I'd be upset too, but please just stop and think for a second. We can't just leave."

"Why not?" Annie proposed. "Why can't we just leave? We can go wherever we want."

"Well…" Illya trailed off. Then she sighed. "Okay, you want to get away. I completely understand. You can spend a few days at my house just to—"

"No. Japan," Annie insisted firmly. "I promised you a normal life, Illya. I promised to God I'd do whatever I could to get you that life, and you're not going to get that normal life until you put your past behind you. You have to confront your dad, you have to settle that score, or it will always be there to drag you down."

"But I'm not ready," Illya frantically said, increasingly panicked. "I'm not ready to face him yet, not so soon, not on such short notice, not—!"

"Illya!" Annie cut her off shortly. She cupped Illya's small hands in her own and caressed them gently. "You'll be alright. I'll be right there next to you the whole time. You can do this. You _will_ do this."

Illya sat incredibly still, and gulped. "O—Okay. We're going to Fuyuki, I guess."

Annie smiled gently. "Great."

"But if you think Grandfather will just let me walk off, you're out of your mind," Illya warned. "He barely tolerates me going to school in town, what makes you think he would let me go to a foreign country for a few days, especially Japan?"

Annie smirked. "Just leave that to me."

* * *

The next evening, Annie was sitting in the back of that familiar limousine, bumping along through Einzbern forest. It was a Thursday evening, which mean it was time for Illya's semi-weekly lesson. The white-haired girl herself was sitting next to Annie, fresh from a day of school. Annie herself was absent that day because of her suspension.

All seemed as normal as any day that they did this. The snow was falling steadily outside, swirling around and past the vehicle. Sella was up in the driver's seat, navigating the limousine down the road as gently as was possible. The one difference between that day and any other, though, was that Annie bore a suitcase with her that day.

The reason for the suitcase was that Annie was going to sleep over at Illya's house that night. Illya had been talking about having a sleepover for a couple of weeks now, and Annie thought that the time was right to finally make that happen. She was one that preferred sleeping in her own bed, but one night couldn't hurt.

"As soon as we arrive I'll have Leysritt set up sheets for you in one of the manor's many guest chambers, Annie," Sella was saying. "We Einzberns aren't exactly known for our, ah, hospitality, but you will be very comfortable, that I can assure you."

"Annie will be sleeping in my chambers tonight, Sella," Illya corrected, placing a hand on Annie's shoulder.

"Oh," said Sella, looking slightly taken aback through the rearview mirror. "And why is that?"

"That's how sleepovers usually work, right Annie?"

"That's right," Annie confirmed softly. She had no idea if that was the case, in truth; she didn't exactly have many sleepovers while at the orphanage. But it was imperative that Annie slept in the same bedroom as Illya that night.

"Well, if that is what you want, it will be so," Sella said. "I'm sure we can find a way to move an extra bed into Illya's room."

"Excellent," Illya replied.

The vehicle continued to rumble up the road, bumping at ever root and snag that appeared on the path. It was slow going, especially with the dark deepening with each passing moment, but Sella did not lead them astray. She was an experienced driver, Annie reminded herself, and knew this road like the back of her hand.

It wasn't until full night had descended on Einzbern Forest that the dim lights of Einzbern Manor appeared in Annie's view. The castle, standing tall and formidable against the night sky, sent a chill into Annie's heart. Somewhere in the depths of that castle was the pool full of bodies, the image of which was still burned into Annie's memory. For the first time, it occurred to her that she would be _sleeping_ in the same building that contained those bodies.

Annie breathed in deeply, burying those thoughts beyond comprehension. _Just pretend it's a normal house,_ she told herself. _It's just one night, you can get through this._

Leysritt was waiting just inside the open doorway, a welcoming smile on her face. A soft, dim light from the torches of the manor framed her slight figure. In either hand she held a steaming mug filled with hot drink, the perfect way to banish winter's chill.

"Allow me to take your things, Annie," Sella said once she put the limo into park. The maid exited the vehicle and took Annie's suitcase out of the trunk, carrying it inside through the snow. Annie and Illya themselves were right behind her, Annie hurrying into the house and Illya stopping to catch a particularly fat snowflake on her tongue.

"I've prepared some hot tea for the two of you," Leysritt said cheerfully. "You two should warm yourselves up a little bit before starting your training session."

"Thanks, Leysritt," Annie replied, gratefully accepting the mug of tea into her grasp as she shook out some snow from her hair. She took a deep sip, letting the soothing liquid slide down her throat and warm her up right to her very fingertips and toes.

"Your bags have been placed Illya's room, as requested," Sella announced as she descended the stairs. "I'm afraid you will have to wait to start your session while we move a second bed into the bed chamber."

"That's fine," Illya replied pleasantly. "Take as much time as you need, you two."

Sella bowed her head and Leysritt smiled, and then both turned to go back up the stairs. Annie wondered how the two of them, frail maids, would manage to move an entire bed alone, but she reminded herself that this was a manor full of magecraft. The two would be fine.

"And now we wait," Illya commented, holding her own mug of tea in her left hand.

"And now we wait," Annie agreed, taking another sip of the hot liquid. "You'll have to move fast. Who knows how much time we'll have."

"We'll have plenty of time, like we always do," Illya assured her. "And if the unexpected does happen, Leysritt will warn us."

Annie nodded. She was probably worried over nothing; nobody had ever interrupted their lessons before. Still, as someone who was orphaned by virtue of a bus accident, she knew that one could never be too careful.

"So," Illya piped up after a few minutes of silence, dry-washing her hands, "what's the plan when we get to Japan?" She asked the question in a hushed voice

"Well, I booked us a cheap hotel in this Fuyuki place," Annie murmured back. "Three nights should be enough, right?"

"Should be," Illya said quietly. "From what I remember being told, it isn't that large a city."

"Excellent," said Annie. Then, noticing the less-than-excited look on Illya's face, she asked, "you nervous?"

"Of course I'm nervous," Illya replied. "Who wouldn't be nervous?"

"Like I said, you'll be fine," Annie encouraged. "Whenever you're feeling nervous, just think about the look the bastard will have on his face when he sees you show up out of nowhere."

Illya giggled, eyes sparkling once again. "Yeah, that is going to be quite enjoyable."

"All finished!" Sella announced from above, returning down the stairs fifteen minutes after she had left. She looked completely composed and put-together as always. There was no sign of strain or effort from lifting or pulling on her figure. "You two are free to start practicing. I apologize for keeping you."

"You weren't long at all," Illya said, turning to go up the staircase herself. "Thanks again, Sella!"

"I'll knock when dinner is ready," was Sella's reply.

Annie followed Illya into her chambers. The antechamber was the same as always, but Annie noticed the extra bed in the actual bedroom. On top of the extra bed was Annie's suitcase. Illya let Annie into the room before closing the door behind her.

"All yours, Illya," Annie said as soon as the door was closed. Illya hurried into her room and opened Annie's suitcase. Inside were all of Annie's belongings that she was taking to Japan, but the suitcase was only half-full. That soon changed as Illya began packing her own belongings into the suitcase. It was in that manner that the two planned on sneaking Illya's stuff out of the manor without anyone taking notice.

While Illya was packing, Annie was pretending to give Illya a lesson in the antechamber. She especially emphasized all of the noises, the grunts and the bellows, that came with hand-to-hand combat to give the impression to anyone passing by that a lesson was actually taking place. Every now and then Annie said something like "keep your feet moving" or "keep your hands up" to act like she was giving instruction.

"Almost done?" Annie murmured quietly. "Sella could knock any second."

"Just about finished," Illya replied, placing a couple more items of clothing in the bag. "There."

She was just in time. As soon as she zipped the suitcase up, Annie heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Illya called.

Sella opened the door and stuck her head into the room. "Dinner's ready faster than I expected," she announced. "I know you usually practice longer than this, but I wouldn't want the soup to get cold."

"That's alright, Sella," Annie replied. "We practiced enough for one night."

"Oh, excellent," said Sella. "Follow me, then." Sella left the room, beckoning for the two girls to follow. Annie left the room just behind her, giving Illya a small wink before following Sella to the dinner table.

* * *

The next morning, 45 minutes prior to the start of school, Annie and Illya stood at the bottom of the staircase, ready to depart. Leysritt was standing outside the manor at the door of the limousine, while Sella was upstairs, fetching the suitcase. Illya gazed around the manor slowly, as if taking it all in.

"What's the matter?" Annie asked her.

"I've never spent a single night outside this castle," Illya replied. "I've never been beyond Edensburg before."

"And you're nervous," Annie concluded. "Don't be. The world is large and exciting, and we'll both finally be getting a taste of it. We're finally getting out of this town for a while."

"Yes, we are," Illya replied, a small grin now in her face.

"Okay, here we are," Sella announced from the top of the stairs, suitcase in hand. "It's strange, though, I swear this suitcase is a bit heavier than it was last night."

Annie's eyes widened. She turned to Illya, who looked equally stumped.

"Must be my imagination," Sella concluded, shrugging her shoulders and she walked down the stairs. She handed Annie the suitcase. "It was a pleasure having you over, Miss Leonhart. Have a great day in school, you two."

"Thanks, Sella," Illya replied. The two then joined Leysritt outside and entered the limousine. All the doors were soon shut, and the three of them were soon bumping their way down the road to Edensburg.

"Where am I dropping you two off, again?" Leysritt inquired.

"The bus station," said Annie. "We'll handle the rest from there."

"As you wish," Leysritt replied.

"Remember, Leys, if asked, tell Grandfather that you dropped us off at school, and that we must have left town from there," Illya mentioned. "If Grandfather finds out that you helped us, he'll unmake you."

Annie could help but shudder at the word 'unmake.' Lord Acht placed no human value in these homunculi, and it was sickening.

"I will," Leysritt assured her mistress. "Have a safe trip, you two!


	18. Fuyuki City

The sun was low and red in the sky when Fuyuki City was finally on the horizon. Some of the buildings were tall, others were only two or three stories high, but all looked small and distant, and shadowy against the red sky. The road itself was clear, but several inches of snow piled on top of the land to either side. Winter held Japan firmly in its grip too, it seemed.

Annie, for her part, could hardly keep her eyes open. She and Illya had traveled nonstop for well over 18 hours, and the travel had taken its toll. First it was a 12-hour plane ride to Narita Airport near Tokyo, then it was straight onto a bus, with Fuyuki a seven-hour drive away. Now it was nearly five o'clock, the sun was very close to setting, and she was exhausted.

Next to her on the bus, Illya was out cold. The little, white-haired girl was resting her head against the window, chest slowly rising and falling. The various rattling and bumps of the bus did nothing to disturb her, Illya just kept on sleeping. It was good that she was able to get some rest, Annie thought. Tomorrow would be another taxing day.

The buildings of Fuyuki grew closer and closer. On one side of the road, a train track ran parallel. On the other side, the road pulled up alongside a river that ran straight for the city and the sea beyond it. The road and the train tracks continued to run side by side until the bus reached the city limits.

According to a map Annie had procured at the bus station in Tokyo, Fuyuki was split into two halves, divided by the river, the Mion River, and the Mion Bridge that crossed it. The western half, called the Shinto District, was the business, financial center of the city, whereas the eastern half, the Miyama District, was more of a residential area. The hotel that Annie had booked for three nights was in Shinto, but Annie figured that Kiritsugu and his son were more likely to live in Miyama. Therefore, Annie's plan was to search the Miyama half of the city with Illya, let whatever may happen between Illya and her father happen, and then leave the city on the third morning.

As soon as the bus got into the heart of the Shinto District, Annie gently shook Illya's shoulder. The younger girl's eyes fluttered, and she groaned as they slowly opened. "What is it?" she muttered.

"We're just about here," Annie explained, gesturing to the window.

Illya's eyes widened. "Already?" she asked nervously. "But weren't we just leaving Tokyo?"

"You were asleep for almost the entire ride," Annie explained. "We're about to get off."

"O—Okay."

Annie sighed. She was clearly getting more and more anxious about seeing her dad with every passing moment. "Listen, Illya, you have every reason to be nervous," Annie reasoned. "Just remember that I'm going to be right there next to you the entire time, and that you'll feel as free as a bird the second you unshackle this weight. So don't sweat it so much, okay?"

"I'll try," Illya replied, voice steadying slightly. Very slightly.

"And besides, he's the one that abandoned you and has to answer for that," Annie explained. " _He's_ the one that should be nervous, not you. He has no idea what's coming."

Illya smiled faintly at that. "We're not…not today, right?"

"Nah, it's late in the day, and I'm tired," Annie agreed. She could feel the weight of the bags under her eyes. "Let's get to the hotel, grab something to eat, relax for a bit, and turn in early. We'll hit the streets tomorrow."

The bus finally came to a halt in front of a train station at the heart of the Shinto District. Annie and Illya were among the first off of the bus. The two retrieved their suitcases from underneath the bus, and Annie led the way to the hotel a few blocks away. The air of the foreign city felt good and refreshing, the sight of new buildings, new streets, and new people was exactly what Annie needed out of this trip. Edensburg felt a million miles away.

* * *

The next morning, the two girls stood on the pedestrian walkway of the Mion Bridge, with a light snow falling around them. The bridge was one of the most unique Annie had seen in her life. Not for its shape, which was relatively normal, nor for its size, which was pretty standard, but for its color. Bridges weren't normally painted bright red.

The walkway was mostly empty. It was the morning rush hour, and most people were heading from Miyama to Shinto, not the other way around. Scores of people were walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the bridge, but the side Annie and Illya were on, the one further from the ocean, was clear.

From their vantage point, the downtown area of Miyama was splayed out below them. The buildings here were much smaller than the ones in Shinto; the tallest ones were only five or six stories high. The central part of this district was a shopping area that was just starting to gain some life for the day. Stores were starting to open their doors, and coffee shops were busy with commuters stopping for a quick breakfast before work. Beyond the downtown area the city grew suburban, with houses marching up a steady rise to the edge of a forest on the edge of Annie's vision.

"How are we going to find my father in all of this?" Illya asked. "This city is huge."

Annie shrugged. She foresaw this problem for a couple of days no, and hadn't thought of a way around it. "We just have to ask around town as much as we can and hopefully get lucky," said Annie. "Someone has to know him, right? Or at least he'll hear that people are asking after him."

Illya raised her eyebrows. "That could take days," she protested. "Many more days than the two we have."

"We don't have an alternative," Annie said patiently. "We have no idea where your dad lives, the only way to find out is to ask."

Illya sighed. "Then let's split up at least. We can cover more ground and people that way."

Annie turned to her; eyes wide. "You're okay with that? Wandering the city by yourself?"

"I'm fourteen, not six. I'll be fine."

Annie blinked. "Okay. Meet back at the foot of the bridge in three hours?"

"Works for me," said Illya. "See you then." She waved her arm and started down the rest of the bridge at a quick clip.

Annie stood there a moment longer, watching her younger friend enter Miyama and turn onto a side street. _She probably wants to wander alone for a bit,_ Annie reasoned. _She's about to experience a big moment, who wouldn't want some space to think before something like that?_

Annie shook her head. Time spent standing on the bridge was time wasted looking for Kiritsugu. She set off into Miyama district, going in the opposite direction that Illya had gone. She walked briskly, like a woman on a mission, eager to complete her task. She did something that normally would make her cringe. She stopped random people on the street and talked to them, inquiring after the whereabouts of Kiritsugu Emiya. Normally she avoided talking to people in general, but what had to be done had to be done.

And so she searched. And she searched. And searched some more, all morning long. She spoke to so many people that she lost count, and by the end of the morning people were giving her strange looks. Yet nobody she asked even knew who Kiritsugu Emiya was, much less where he might be found. The language barrier made things even more difficult. Nobody she spoke to knew German, so she was forced to speak the only language she and the locals had somewhat in common, and her English wasn't great.

"Illya was right, this is hopeless," Annie sighed after another person, this time a fancily-dressed lady with sunglasses and a pearl necklace, gave her a dismissive look and ignored her inquiry. "I'm never going to find him at this rate."

She briefly considered going back to Shinto, to City Hall, and asking an official there for Kiritsugu's address, but she quickly dismissed it. They would never give out that information to a stranger like her; that would be a complete breach of privacy. No, she would have to find Illya's dad the hard way.

Annie briefly checked her watch. There was a little over an hour until she would have to meet Illya back at the foot of the bridge. She glanced up, past the shopping district and into the residential area of Miyama. Perhaps she could start knocking on doors and ask after Kiritsugu that way? If she was lucky, one of the residents would know him as a neighbor, or maybe she would stumble upon Kiritsugu's residence itself. She couldn't accomplish much in an hour, but she could at least get started.

"I suppose there's no other way to do this," Annie sighed. At the very least, even if they didn't find Emiya, she and Illya were getting the break they so desperately deserved. That didn't mean she wasn't going to try, though.

Just as she was about to turn for the main road that would lead her to the houses, however, something caught her eye.

As the shops turned into houses as one went deeper into Miyama, the land rose ever so slowly, until it reached a steep, forested hill at the very edge of the city. Right at the edge of town, Annie thought she could make out a school. Maybe she couldn't find Kiritsugu directly, but if she could find his son, Shirou, he could lead her straight to his father. And there was no better place to look than a school.

"Excuse me," Annie politely stopped a young mother walking with her daughter down the street. "Do you speak English?"

Most of the people she had seen today had been uncomfortable speaking with her, a foreigner, but this woman was surprisingly polite. "A little," she replied slowly.

"That building," Annie began, beckoning the lady to look right at where she was pointing. "Is school?"

"School…ah, yes," the woman nodded. "Homurahara Academy."

"Homurahara Academy," Annie repeated. Sounded like a school to her. " _Arigatou._ "

The woman smiled politely before continuing on her business, her daughter staring back at Annie in wonder as her mother held her hand and ushered her down the block. Annie glanced back up at the school. She finally had something to go on.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Annie was stepping out of a taxi and paying the cabbie the appropriate fare in yen. Across the street, Homurahara Academy stood tall and silent against a blue sky patched with clouds. The grand double gates stood open, indicating that school was in session, but the grounds were completely empty, as all of the students were probably in class.

"Well," Annie took a deep breath, "here it goes."

She crossed the streets and entered the school grounds. A small gust of wind blew a few dead leaves across the courtyard, making Annie shiver. The winter climate here wasn't nearly as bad as Germany, but it was still cold. Eager to get out of the cold, Annie sped up the pace of her walking until she was at the doors to the school building itself.

As she walked through, she wondered if any of the students looking up from the window would notice an unfamiliar European wandering into their school building, and what they would make of that if they did. The thought made her chuckle.

The hallways were just as empty as the courtyard, with not a soul to be seen. Homurahara Academy must've been very strict about students staying in the classroom during class, not too dissimilar to her own school. She didn't know the class schedule of this place, so she would just have to wait until there was a break. Hopefully that wasn't too long.

To her surprise, though, as she was turning the corner on a flight of steps, she nearly bumped into someone coming from the other way. The girl was so surprised that she jumped and dropped the three books she was carrying, and they tumbled down the steps past Annie.

"I am so sorry," Annie said quickly, running down the stairs to pick up the books. They each had Japanese titles that she couldn't understand. Annie gathered the books and returned them to their owner. She was a pretty girl, a couple of years younger than Annie was. She was petitely dressed in a school uniform, and her purple hair was dyed so well that it looked real.

"Don't worry about it," the girl said in surprisingly good English, with a sunny smile. "I can see you're not from around here."

"No," Annie replied. "I'm from Germany, actually. My name is Annie."

"Nice to meet you, Annie," said the girl. "My name is Matou, Sakura. You can just call me Sakura."

"Sakura," Annie repeated. "What a pretty name."

"Thank you!" Sakura replied. "So, what brings you to Japan, Annie?"

"Well, I came here looking for someone named Shirou Emiya. Do you know him?"

" _Senpai?_ " Sakura asked in surprised. "Emiya, Shirou is a friend of mine. How do you know him?"

"That's a bit of a long story," Annie chuckled. "I can explain later, but I'm in a bit of a rush right now. Does he go to this school?"

"Y—Yes, but he is not in school today. When school is finished, though, I could take you to his house to see him," Sakura offered.

Annie nodded. "That would be perfect. What time does school end?"

"I'll be finished with after-school clubs at 4:30pm," Sakura told her. "I'll meet you in the courtyard then, okay?"

"Sounds good," Annie agreed. "Thank you so much for your help, Sakura! I'll see you soon!"

Sakura waved goodbye as Annie turned to leave the building. She still had twenty minutes until she had to meet Illya, and when she did, she would have some good news to report.

* * *

Sakura frowned at Annie's back as the older girl walked away. Something was definitely weird about this entire situation. Where would Shirou know an older German girl from? It certainly seemed like Annie had never been to Japan before, and Shirou had never left Japan in his whole life.

Annie seemed nice enough, but she decided she wasn't going to lead a complete stranger to _senpai_ 's house without at least telling his guardian. Making an about face turn, Sakura headed straight for Taiga Fujimura's office. She had a lot to tell her.


	19. On the Doorstep

Illya was waiting exactly where she and Annie had agreed to meet a few hours earlier, at the foot of the Mion Bridge. She was leaning up against a lamppost when Annie arrived, and Annie could tell that Illya hadn't found any leads just by the look on her face. The younger girl was visibly tired and in need of lifted spirits.

Over the course of the past few hours the cloudless sky had grown overcast, and now a few flurries fluttered in the Fuyuki air. It had gotten colder out as well, and windier, sending another shiver down Annie's spine. It seemed that winter followed them wherever they went.

Illya looked up when she noticed Annie arriving and slowly shook her head. "I had no luck," she explained. "Most of the people here just ignored me, and those that didn't had no idea who Kiritsugu Emiya is. I knew this would be a wild goose chase."

"Wild goose chases are impossible," Annie agreed, "unless you narrow down the placed to look."

Illya caught the hint in Annie's voice and widened her eyes. "You found something?"

Annie nodded, this time not hiding her grin. "I remembered you telling me your dad adopted a son, so I decided to go looking for him in schools. Found a friend of his in the first one I looked at; she's going to take us to his house as soon as school is over in a few hours."

Illya sighed and shook her head. "I should have thought of that. That's very clever of you."

"Thank you," Annie replied. The two began walking away from the bridge and further into Miyama. "Have you thought about what you're going to say to him?"

"I thought about it," Illya answered after a pause of silence.

"And?"

Illya chuckled mirthlessly. "I still have no clue what I'm going to tell him. I've had years to figure out what to say, and yet not a damn word will come to me."

"Don't sweat it too much, Illya," Annie advised. "When the time comes, the words will just come to you."

"I know."

A car drove by them, temporarily disrupting the peaceful silence of Fuyuki City. A man and a woman were walking on the other side of the street, arm in arm. A middle-aged man was assisting his elderly mother into a coffee shop, and a group of young women were excitedly entering a bridal shop.

"I didn't realize it when frantically looking for your father," Annie commented, "but this is a very beautiful city. Everything looks so peaceful here."

"I know," Illya agreed. "You'd never think that it would be home to one of the most cutthroat wars in human history."

That made Annie shiver. Somewhere in the back of her head, Annie hadn't forgotten all of the details of the Holy Grail Wars that Illya had told her. Seven mages fighting to the death for the right to have their wishes granted. It sounded gallant, chivalrous, even heroic to the unsuspecting, but the reality was grimmer and bloodier than that.

Just like Edensburg, this town, like every settlement on earth, had secrets beneath the pleasant surface. No town was 100 percent wholesome, no city completely clean, but everyone pretends that their place of living is completely ordinary. That's what has to happen, for when the secret ugliness is exposed, everyone suffers.

Annie patted Illya's shoulder comfortingly. "We still have some time before we have to head up to the school. Let's grab something to eat."

* * *

Annie and Illya arrived at Homurahara Academy a few minutes before the agreed-upon meeting time. Unlike when Annie first came to the school, the courtyard was overflowing with students leaving for the day. Most were streaming out of the building among friends. A group of three guys walked past Illya's right, while another guy surrounded by girls passed Annie's left.

A few others walked out by themselves. A small boy with glasses scuttled out of the gate, a teacher with short, dark hair sauntered by with her briefcase, and a young woman with pigtails walked briskly and confidently past the gates. Annie continuously scanned the crowd, but saw no sign of Sakura as of yet.

"This is the correct school, right?" Illya asked her.

"Definitely," Annie confirmed. "I was only here a few hours ago, you know—oh, there she is!"

Sakura stepped out of the building at exactly 4:30. Annie waved to her as soon as she saw her. Sakura spotted to the two of them almost immediately, waving back with a friendly smile. More than a few of the Homurahara students casts strange glances at them, and at Sakura, but she ignored them.

"Good to see you again, Annie," Sakura greeted.

"You too," Annie replied. "This is my friend, Illya."

"Nice to meet you, Illya," said Sakura, extending a hand. "My name is Matou Sakura, but please call me Sakura."

Annie noticed a small flicker in Illya's eyes when Sakura mentioned her name, a flicker that Annie had no explanation for, but Illya kept her face level and polite. "Pleasure to meet you as well," she replied, shaking Sakura's hand.

"Shirou's house is around a twenty-minute walk from here," said the purple-haired girl. "Let's get going."

Sakura led them from the location of the school building toward the direction of the ocean. The school seemed located in a very wealthy neighborhood within Fuyuki, a neighborhood filled with large, expensive manses whose architecture seemed foreign. Sakura seemed to be leading them out of that neighborhood, toward a section of Fuyuki that was less wealthy and more locally-styled.

"So, tell me," Sakura piped up right away, allowing no chance for awkward silence to settle in. "How do you two know _senpai?"_

"I'm sorry, who is that?" Illya asked.

Sakura's cheeks reddened slightly, and she shook her head and chuckled to herself. "I'm so sorry, I forgot you don't know much Japanese. I meant Shirou."

Annie and Illya exchanged a quick glance behind Sakura's back. "It's actually Illya that knows Shirou," Annie explained, carefully tiptoeing around the truth without straying too far from it. "I'm just travelling with her on this trip."

"That's right," Illya added. "I've known Shirou for a few years now, through his father." Illya nearly stumbled over the word 'father.'

"I see," Sakura commented. Did Annie detect a hint of solemnness in her voice? Nah, why would that be?

"How do you know Shirou?" Annie asked, keeping the conversation going.

"Oh, I met Shirou a few years back," Sakura explained, using a tone of admiration to describe the younger Emiya. "He has always been kind to me, from the first moment I met him. I see him almost every day now, in the morning for breakfast and in the evening for dinner. He said he wasn't feeling well today, however, so he stayed home."

A fierce gust of wind blew down the street, a gust so strong and sudden that it felt to Annie as though a wall smashed into her back, threatening to knock her over. Her blonde hair almost came loose from its bun, and Illya had to grab onto her winter hat to keep it from blowing away.

"I can't say I blame him, either," Sakura commented. "Today is very a much a stay indoors type of day."

Annie shrugged her shoulders. "Where we come from, we get days much worse than this. It snows nearly every day, and the air is so cold it bites at you."

Sakura shivered. "That sounds…unpleasant. Our winters are cold, but not unbearably cold, and we hardly get snow at all. When we do, it's never that much."

"This landscape tells a different story," Illya pointed out quietly gesturing to the several inches of snow that covered the ground. She sounded as though she barely got those words out. Annie glanced over to her and saw that her hands were tightly balled into fists, and her posture was stiff as a board. She was only getting more nervous

"Oh, that's very unusual," Sakura pointed out. "That happened the day before yesterday; I don't remember ever having that much snow before."

"How strange," said Annie.

The rest of the walk was completed in silence. Illya was clearly too wrapped in thought to say anything, and Sakura actually seemed content to remain in silence. That suited Annie well enough, she was never one to make aloof conversation just for the hell of it.

Annie glanced once more at her friend. Illya's eyes were set dead ahead, and seemed clouded over. Both of her hands were wrung together, and she was shivering slightly in the cold. Or was she shaking from nervousness? Annie couldn't tell.

Annie felt bad for her friend. Maybe she wasn't ready for this encounter after all. These sorts of moments, like confronting a parent who abandoned you, aren't things that could be rushed. They require careful, meaningful thought, and a lot of nerve building, and only when you feel as though you are ready can you go through with it. You can't, or shouldn't be rushed into them.

 _But that's exactly what I did to her,_ Annie suddenly realized. She forced Illya to confront her problem, well before she was ready to do so of her own volition, by throwing it on her in the spur of the moment. She had pressed her to come to Japan without allowing her any way out. All so that Annie could run away from her own problems.

 _We don't have to do this now,_ Annie concluded. "Illya—"

"Here we are, the Emiya household," Sakura announced, before Annie could get Illya's attention. Before them stood a single-story complex that looked incredibly antiquated. The main building was very wide, with a front door right in the center of it. Beyond it, there seemed to be another structure or two behind the main house. Like the other houses in the area, the Emiya residence was Japanese-style architecture.

While Annie and Illya were surveying the building, Sakura had gone to the door and knocked on it gently. _Too late now,_ Annie thought grimly. There was no backing out for Illya anymore. Annie was wracked with guilt as she watched her friend try to steel herself for this encounter. The best thing she could do for her now was be by her side to support her, and comfort her afterwards.

"So this is where he's been this entire time," Illya murmured. "For all of these years, I wondered what life was like for him after he left me behind. I wondered what his house was like, what his son was like, and whether things were pleasant for him after he abandoned me. Now I know."

Illya and Annie stood in silence a few feet from the door, as Sakura patiently waited for someone inside to answer. After thirty seconds, Sakura knocked again, still gentle, but firmer this time. Still nobody answered, and Annie could not spot the shadow of anybody moving inside the house.

"This is odd," Annie heard Sakura mutter. "Where could he—wait, what's this?"

Sakura bent over and picked up a piece of paper from the floor. She scanned it for a few moments, then placed it back on the floor before walking back to where Annie and Illya were standing.

"Shirou's not home right now," Sakura explained. "He left a note."

"I thought you said he was sick?" said Annie.

"He is," Sakura confirmed. "He said he needed a bit of fresh air, so he went to Ryuudou Temple to visit his father."

"Great, can you show us how to get there?" Illya asked.

"Illya—"

"No, Annie," Illya said firmly, in German. "If we're here, then I'm going to do what we came here to do. I'm going to see him. The time for turning back has long passed."

"Alright," said Annie, with a deep breath. "If that's what you want, then I'm behind you." Then, switching back to English, "Sakura, can you please show us the way to this Ryuudou Temple?"

Sakura wrung her hands reluctantly. "I'd rather not disturb _senpai_ when he's visiting his father, would you mind waiting here with me until he returns?"

"No, it's okay," Annie assured her. "It's Shirou's father that we really came to Fuyuki to see anyway."

"Oh, I see," said Sakura. There was that hint of sadness again. Did Sakura know something? "I'll take you there."

And so they were off again, this time heading toward the hills that surrounded Fuyuki on the south side. Those hills were densely forested, and Annie could not detect from afar a building that looked like a temple. The roads grew steeper and steeper as they walked along, until much of downtown Fuyuki was splayed out below them.

"What a gorgeous view this is," Annie commented. The roofs of all of the houses in residential Miyama were covered in blankets of white snow, still yet to be muddied. The lights of the Miyama shopping district sparkled off the snowflakes falling from the sky, and it all was set against the backdrop of the tall, sleek, glimmering buildings of Shinto.

"It's quite something," Sakura agreed. "It'd be even more beautiful if the weather wasn't so bad."

"I think it's lovely the way it is," Illya said quietly.

They passed an empty gas station, made a left turn, and continued down an empty road that ran right along the edge of the forested hills. Right where the right side of the road ended, the steep hills began. There didn't seem to be a single building on this forlorn street, much less a temple.

"This way," Sakura directed. She was standing at the bottom of a long, steep staircase that went up into the hills. It was a staircase that was hardly noticeable to anyone walking by; it was narrow and surrounded on either side by tall evergreens. Each step was covered by a thin film of newly-fallen snow.

"Ryuudou Temple is at the top of this staircase," Annie asked her.

Sakura nodded. "It's not as long as it looks." She began to ascend, and Annie and Illya followed.

Sakura was right, the staircase was not as long as it looked. Before long Annie could glimpse the top of the staircase, where an old-fashioned gate led into a walled-off courtyard. They all took it slow, so as not to slip on the snowy steps, but the light of the fading day grew dimmer, and the snow falling from the sky grew thicker. It was slow going.

"Somewhere, at the top of these steps, my father waits for me," Illya said to Annie under her breath. "I finally made it."

"Are you ready?" Annie asked.

Illya paused, closed her eyes, but then nodded. The cloud in her eye was replaced by a fierce glimmer. "I'm ready."

The three of them reached the gateway without incident. As Annie expected, the gateway led to a courtyard, in the middle of which was the temple itself. It was an old-fashioned temple with tilted, shingled roofs. It looked gloomy, particularly in the wintry weather. _Perhaps Kiritsugu works here,_ Annie guessed.

But Sakura did not lead them inside the temple. Rather, she led them around the main structure, all the way to the back of the complex. There was a thin mist in the air, which prevented Annie from making much out in the failing light. _What could Kiritsugu and Shirou be doing out here?_

Suddenly Sakura stopped. "Here we are," she said in a low voice.

Annie squinted her eyes. She could make out a few mounds in the mist, neatly ordered in rows. _What in the world…_ Annie froze in her tracks. She was staring at a graveyard.

Next to her, Illya's breath caught. She stepped forward, slowly, eyes wide, into the graveyard, toward a lonely grave in the back right corner, where a red-haired boy was sitting in silence. "He's…he's…" was all Illya could whisper.

Annie didn't need to look, but she looked anyway. On that grave, in blocky lettering, was written a single name:

KIRITSUGU EMIYA


	20. Plane Tickets

For a brief moment, there was dead silence in the small graveyard. Illya stood in shock, staring at the grave that bore the name of her father. Annie had no idea what was going through Illya's head. She spent so long preparing to meet her father, only to find him in the grave. She clearly had no clue how to react, and, if she was being honest, neither did Annie.

Then, Shirou Emiya noticed he was not alone. When he turned around Annie detected a pained look on his face, but then his features quickly morphed into a pleasant smile. He seemed like a good-natured kid, around Annie's age or maybe a year younger. He was tall and thin, but very hale, and his hair was redder than a hot ember.

"Hello," he greeted with his smile still intact. He spoke English very well, just like Sakura. "Nice to meet you. Are you guys here to visit someone at this graveyard?"

Illya acted like she didn't hear him. Her hair blew in the wind, but otherwise she stayed completely still.

"We…we…" Annie tried to reply, but she was out of words.

"I've never seen any other visitors here before," Shirou continued. "Then again, I only come here rarely." He glanced at Illya's face for a moment and waited for some sort of reply, but none was forthcoming from either her or Annie. "I'll leave the graveyard to you two," he said respectfully.

Shirou stood up to leave, but then stopped in his tracks as he glanced behind Annie. "Sakura, what a pleasant surprise." Shirou walked toward the purple-haired girl, who had a very confused look on her face. "What are you doing here? I said in my note that you could let yourself into the house, right?"

"I—I was actually asked by these two to bring them here," Sakura explained. She spoke slowly, as if unsure of what was going on. "They said they know you, _senpai,_ through your father, but it doesn't seem like you know them. I'm confused, who are they?"

"No, I don't know them at all," Shirou declared. His smile was gone, and his face was very serious. He slowly turned back toward Illya and Annie. "Do you…" he probed, "did you know my father?"

Annie realized that both Shirou and Sakura were looking at her. "Oh, well, you see," Annie stammered clumsily. "I, personally, never knew him, but—"

"Tell me," Illya cut in. Her voice cut clean and clear through the air, sharp enough to pierce the fog. Her voice was even and emotionless, calm, cool, and unfazed. Her father's death seemed not to affect her emotionally, at least not on the outside.

"Tell me, Shirou," she said again. "How did he die?"

Shirou didn't answer right away. He looked startled for a moment, as if processing that question. Then he snapped out of it.

"Well, why do you want to know?" he countered, equally as calm. He slowly walked back toward the grave, past Annie, toward Illya. "Did you know him?"

"Oh, I knew him," Illya replied. Her voice was ice. "I knew him very well."

This entire time, Illya's eyes hadn't left Kiritsugu's grave for even a second. Her eyes were trained on it even now, as if weighing it, examining it, still trying to process the image and what it meant in her mind. Annie couldn't see Illya's face, couldn't see her eyes. She wondered what sort of emotions were fighting for dominance there.

Annie was unable to do anything. It was almost as though the magnitude of the moment had frozen her in place. She couldn't say anything, she couldn't do anything; all she could do was stand still and watch as this moment unfolded for her friend.

Shirou sighed. "He died peacefully, at night, under the stars, about a year ago," he stated quietly. His voice seemed pained.

"In his sleep?" Illya inquired, still looking at the gravestone. "That doesn't usually happen to people his age."

"He—he was very sick in the years before he died," Shirou explained through deep breaths. "Toward the end, he could hardly move on his own, and he was nearly blind."

Illya inhaled deep, then exhaled slowly. "Good," she said calmly.

Shirou's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"

"I said good," Illya repeated, finally turning away from Kiritsugu's resting place walking past Shirou toward Annie and Sakura. "He deserved to suffer in his final years," she said over her shoulder. Her face was as hard and uncaring as a steel wall. "I'm glad he never found peace."

Shirou stared after her with his mouth wide open and his eyes popping out of his head. Sakura clasped both hands over her mouth. Annie was not as flabbergasted, but she was still taken aback. She knew that Illya had good reason to resent her dad, but so much hatred? Even after learning that Kiritsugu was dead and buried? It was a far cry from the small, sweet girl that Annie had befriended a month ago.

"How _dare_ you!" Shirou raged, storming after Illya. "How can you speak such bad things about a deceased man in front of his own grave? In front of his own son, no less!"

Illya ignored him dismissively. "Come on, Annie," she said coldly. "We're done here."

"Illya…are you sure?"

"What? We did what we came here to do, didn't we?" Illya challenged. Some cracks were beginning to appear in her façade. Her voice was still cool, but her fists were tightly clenched. "We came to put him behind me, and that's what I've done. I have the closure I need."

"Good! Get out of here!" Shirou yelled at Illya's back. "And don't you ever come back. You don't deserve to stand in his presence!"

Illya stopped dead in her tracks. "I have every right to be here," she said quietly, but with some heat. "I have just as much right as you."

Shirou outright laughed at her. "You have about as much right as a complete stranger, because that is exactly what you are! You say you knew him, but if you really knew my father you would never say the things you said. He was a great man!"

At this point Illya was barely holding it together. "You don't know a single thing," she seethed. Her face was screwed in anger and restraint. "You don't know the things he did."

"What do you know?" Shirou concluded rhetorically. "Who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"

And that's when Illya finally snapped.

"I'm his daughter!" she screamed. She whirled around toward Shirou, eyes aflame. "I'm his daughter! I'm his daughter! I'm his daughter!" Illya continued to scream as she marched toward Shirou. She reached into the pocked of her coat, pulled out a small piece of paper, and shoved it at Shirou's chest. Then she slumped to the ground, spent of energy.

Annie was frozen in shock. Behind her, Sakura gasped loudly. Shirou, meanwhile, grasped the piece of paper in a death grip. His eyes were wide, and his hands trembled. "No…no…this is impossible," he stuttered. He was visibly shook. Illya, meanwhile was on her knees, face looking down at the ground.

"We were so happy," Illya said to the grim graveyard, barely holding back tears. "He said he'd be back in a couple of weeks, but he—he never came back. He promised me. He promised me he'd return. I thought he loved me."

Taking a deep breath, Illya returned to her two feet. "Shows how much you really know about a person," she said with a measure of composure. "That's who your father really was, Shirou."

"I—I didn't know," Shirou stammered. The piece of paper Illya had thrust at him dropped to the snow-covered ground. Annie got a small glimpse of it. It was a photo of Illya from a few years ago, though she still looked the same, in front of Einzbern Manor. She was sitting on the shoulders of a black-haired man, a man who could only be Kiritsugu Emiya. Illya's mother, Irisviel, was also in the picture, arm-in-arm with her husband. All three of them were smiling like it was the happiest day of their lives.

"I think I'm ready now, Annie," Illya declared solemnly. "Let's go."

"No, please, wait," Shirou cried out desperately at Illya's back, but the younger girl was unmoved by his pleas. She continued to walk away, past Annie, past Sakura, and away from the graveyard. Annie hesitated, but had no choice but to turn around. She couldn't leave her friend to walk away alone.

"Wait, we can talk about this!" Shirou called after her. "Please, I'm sorry! Please!"

"Wait!"

Illya came to a sudden halt, right at the entrance to the graveyard. That was a new voice, one that Annie did not recognize. And it came from the direction of the graveyard's entrance. Annie walked up to Illya's side and stood next to her protectively.

From the mist, a figure emerged at a run. She was a short, older woman with light brown hair cut very short and big brown eyes. She wore a yellow shirt with thin, black stripes under a turquois jacket, with a white fur coat unzipped on top. The woman stopped her running right in front of a bewildered Illya and Annie and stooped over, panting hard.

"Fuji-nee?" Shirou said, baffled.

"Miss Fujimura," Sakura asked quietly, "what are you doing here?"

Fujimura ignored both of them. "Are you—" she panted, still stopped over from exhaustion, "—are one of you Illya?"

The graveyard was silent, save for the clear, crisp sound of Fujimura panting. Not one of them could believe that this woman knew of Illya's name. Only after a few moments did Illya finally find her voice.

"Yes," she replied slowly. "I am Illya."

Fujimura, still breathing hard, straightened her back and reached into her pocket. After fishing around in there for a few seconds, she pulled out a long, white envelope and gently placed it in Illya's hands.

"This is from Kiritsugu Emiya," Fujimura explained. "He told me, not long before he died, that one day a little girl from Germany with hair as white as snow would come here looking for him. When that happened, he said, I was to give her this envelope. As soon as Sakura here told me that a German girl was in town looking for Shirou, I immediately ran home to get this, in case this was the moment that Kiritsugu foresaw."

Illya's hands trembled, as if the letter she held were made of precious metal. She was at a loss for words. Her mouth moved, as if she was trying to say something, but no words came out. Written on the back of the envelope, in large, blocky lettering, was Illya's five-letter name.

"He didn't forget about me?" Illya asked, staring down at the envelope. "But Grandfather said…" Illya slowly made a move to open the envelope, carefully lifting the flap, but then she hesitated. "I can't!" she exclaimed. "Annie, I can't!"

"Yes you can," Annie said firmly, taking Illya's tiny hands into her own. "You can do this. You can face whatever's in that envelope."

Illya took a deep breath. "You open it, Annie."

"Illya, it's not my place to—"

"I trust you more than anyone," Illya stated firmly, putting the envelope into Annie's hands. Her eyes seemed to bore holes into Annie's heart. "I want to face whatever's in there with my best friend."

Annie looked back down at the envelope, trying to quell the blossoming emotion within her. _My best friend_. No one had ever said that to her before, not ever. But this girl, this girl in the snow, who was so lonely and miserable, now looked to her as a friend. As her best friend. And she trusted her with the most important moment of her life.

Slowly, Annie opened the flap of the envelope. Everyone around her had their eyes trained on her, hinged on her telling them what was inside. She normally hated getting stared at, but this time she hardly noticed, and didn't care. Annie reached a hand inside the envelope, and pulled out its contents.

"It's a bunch of plane tickets," Annie announced, scanning the contents with furrowed eyebrows. "Seven, eight, nine of them. Two tickets per year, more or less, going back to around six years ago and ending a year-and-a-half ago. Each is a roundtrip ticket from Tokyo to…" Annie trailed off as she stared wordlessly at the destination.

"To?" Illya insisted.

Annie looked up at her. "To Munich."

Illya's eyes shone with unshed tears. "But—but that means…"

"He _did_ come back for you," Annie concluded. "He came back for you many times, Illya."

Illya's lips started to quiver, and she pressed her hand to her chin. But then she vociferously shook her head. "How do we even know he was on those planes?"

Shirou slowly stepped forward. "Every year, twice a year, my father would tell me he had a business conference in Tokyo," he offered somberly. "He would leave, be away for a few days, and then come back. When I asked if the trip went well, he always told me that it did, but I could always catch a sad gleam in his eye."

"He lied to his son and left him alone twice a year," Annie followed. "All to try and get his daughter back to him."

"But then, why didn't he?" A single tear rolled down Illya's cheek. "What kept him from—" Illya cut herself off as the answer, the horrifying answer, suddenly occurred to her. Her eyes widened, and her hands fell and hung limp at her sides as she realized that she had been lied to all of these years. About her father, about everything.

"There's a note on the back of one of the tickets," Annie declared. "Would you like me to read it to you, Illya?"

Illya looked at Annie and slowly nodded her head. And so Annie read aloud:

 _My dearest Illya,_

 _I'm writing this to you in failing health. I don't know when, and I don't know where, but I do know in my heart that my last days are upon me. There's so much I want to tell you, so much that you deserve to know, that I will never be able to tell you in person, so I decided to write this letter to you while I still have some strength left, in hopes that it gets delivered to you during your inevitable visit to Fuyuki._

 _I am so, so sorry that I never came for you, my angel. I tried so many times to get you back, but your grandfather would not let me through the Bounded Field. As punishment for failing to deliver the Holy Grail, Acht forbade me from seeing you ever again. No matter how much I tried to break through to you, I had not the strength to get past the Bounded Field. I tried again and again and again, until my health failed so much that I couldn't make the trip to Germany anymore. There hasn't been a single day that's passed, though, that I haven't thought of you, and the thought that I'll never see you again pains me more than any sickness._

 _Your mother was a beautiful woman, and I loved her very much. I hate that she had to sacrifice herself in order to achieve our dream of a better world, and it sickens me that her sacrifice was in vain. The Holy Grail is cursed; it only knows how to achieve its ends through evil means, which is why I was forced to destroy it, for the sake of the world. That, it seems, is why your grandfather decided to punish me._

 _I know you must feel betrayed, and nobody can blame you for feeling that way. It must have been painfully lonely, cooped up in that castle with nobody but your grandfather for company. The years must have been hard, much harder than any child deserves, and the thought of you going through all of that kept me awake every night. The only comfort I had, though, was the knowledge that you would get through it all. You are the strongest little girl I know, and I have every faith that you will overcome the trying days ahead. I know yours will be a long and happy life, and the thought brings a smile to my face amid all of my sorrow._

 _With all the love in the world,_

 _Daddy_

Annie's voice quivered on that last line, but she kept her composure. Illya looked like she was in complete disbelief. If there was any doubt of Kiritsugu's love for his daughter, it was erased by that short, touching letter. Illya was experiencing something she hadn't felt for a long time: love for her father.

"He said he loves me," Illya whispered absently, tears trickling down her cheeks. "He really said he loves me."

"There's one more thing in here, Illya," Annie said. She held the item in the palm of her left hand. "Some sort of nut, I think."

Illya approached her, staring at Annie's outstretched hand. She reach out and plucked the nut from Annie's hand. Illya looked down at the object in her hand, her eyes getting more and more watery by the moment. "A chestnut," she said simply. "We used to play with them when I was little. He remembered."

Then, Illya hastily turned toward the grave, eyes wide, as if seeing it fresh for the first time and realizing again what it meant. She started slowly toward the grave, gradually picking up her pace until she was running toward her father's resting place.

When she got there, she finally lost her composure. Illya collapsed onto her knees and started crying her eyes out. She wrapped her arms around Kiritsugu's gravestone and rested her forehead on it, weeping. Her body heaved violently with each sob; it was very painful for Annie to watch.

Everyone let her cry alone for five minutes, giving Illya the space she needed to be alone with her father. All of the emotion that had been pent up for six years was gushing out, all of the grief, pain, and sadness. It was very difficult to watch, but Annie would do it. She would be by her friend's side.

Then, something unexpected happened. Shirou, who had been standing back silently with all the rest of them, stepped forward. He walked slowly toward the grave until he was sitting by Illya's side, and he put an arm around Illya's shoulder.

"You know, I miss him too," he said softly. "When he passed away, I had some friends by my side, but no family to share my grief with. I was the only one who had lost someone, and I was alone in my grief."

Illya slowed her crying down. "I'm sure that was hard," she sniffled.

"It was," Shirou admitted. "But you don't have to go through that like I did. You have a—a brother now, and I'm here for you."

Illya looked up at him. "Really?"

Shirou shrugged, and his friendly smile returned. "Sure, that's what family's for. So go ahead and cry. I'll be strong for you when you can't."

And that's exactly what Illya did. She buried her face in Shirou's shoulder and resumed her crying. Shirou held her tight as his sister wept over the death of her beloved father. And this time, Annie couldn't help it. A single tear rolled down her cheek, as the snow continued to fall from above.


	21. A Somber Farewell

After a few more minutes, Illya finally cried herself out. Her weeping and sobbing faded away, replaced by quick, deep breaths and some sniffles. Illya lifted her head and wiped some tears from her red, puffy eyes. After that, she finally found some strength to return to her two feet.

"You okay?" Annie asked her.

Illya nodded. "You were right, Annie. It was a good idea to come here."

Annie smiled at her. She was glad her friend had finally found some peace. "Here," Annie said, pressing Kiritsugu's envelope into Illya's hands. "These belong to you."

Illya closed her hands around the plane tickets and pressed them tight to her chest. "Thanks."

By that time, the graveyard had become truly dark in the wake of the oncoming night. The sun, hidden by the clouds and mist, had long since set, and total night was nearly upon Fuyuki. The snow continued to fall, accompanied by a sharp, chill wind that howled around the temple.

"It's getting real dark," Shirou observed. "We should head out now. You two are more than welcome to join us for dinner."

Illya looked up at Annie. "Shall we?"

Annie nodded with a smile. "That would be nice, thank you."

"Wonderful," Shirou said with a grin. "Come on, follow me."

Shirou walked ahead with Illya by his side, past Annie and past Taiga Fujimura and Sakura, around back toward the front of Ryuudou Temple. Sakura and Taiga waited for Annie to join them before setting off toward the staircase themselves. They walked several feet behind Shirou and Illya to give them some privacy, far enough back that they couldn't overhear what the two were talking about. By the time the three women reached the top of the staircase, the siblings were already halfway down.

"I wonder what they're talking about," Annie stated when they started the long descent down the tall, tree-covered hill.

"Who knows?" Sakura responded with an eased shrug. "I'm sure they have a lot of stuff to catch up on, right?"

"I'm sure they do," Annie agreed.

"It was your idea to bring Illya to Fuyuki, Annie?" Taiga asked her.

"It was, though I wasn't expecting this outcome," Annie answered. "Her whole life, Illya carried so much resentment and anger toward her father, to the point where it was holding her back from living the kind of life she wanted. I managed to convince her that she wouldn't be able to move on until she settled that score with him, but this ended up turning out for the best. I'm glad Kiritsugu didn't turn out to be the scumbag Illya though, and I think she's the happier for it."

"It seems like it," Taiga observed with a smile. "Looks like they're really getting along down there."

Based on Illya and Shirou's hand motions, it seemed like the two were deep in conversation. It looked lighthearted though, for it appeared like Illya was laughing.

"Honestly, when Kiritsugu first gave me that envelope and its instructions, I thought his mind had gone," Taiga admitted. "But everything he planned on happening has come to pass. His mind was sharp until the end, bless him."

"If only he had hung around long enough to see Illya again," Annie sighed. "I'm sure she would have liked that."

"She has the next best thing," Sakura said softly. "A brother."

Twenty minutes later, Annie and the others arrived at Shirou's house. Shirou and Illya had arrived a few minutes prior, so the house was alive and lit, unlike when they were there earlier in the day. Shirou had already started preparing dinner, and delicious smells were wafting in from the kitchen.

Sure enough, Shirou was darting around the kitchen like a worker bee, cutting vegetables here, stirring a pot there. Illya, meanwhile was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the table, arms crossed.

"He won't let me help him make dinner," she pouted.

"Oh, stop, you're our guests," Shirou replied over his shoulder. "Relax and make yourselves at home, the food will be ready shortly."

"Here, let me help you, _senpai_ ," Sakura insisted in that soft tone of hers, bustling to the kitchen to assist Shirou with the cooking.

"No, it's really—" Shirou's voice died down as Sakura ignored him and helped with the food anyway, despite Shirou's protests. Taiga Fujimura, though, had no problem putting her feet up and letting others cook her dinner for her. With a sigh of comfort that resembled a cat's purr, Taiga sat down in lounging position next to the table across from Annie and Illya.

In hardly no time at all, the dinner was prepared, as Shirou promised. Platters upon platters of food were placed on the table. There was soup and steamed noodles, plates of salmon and tuna, vegetables, and, of course, heaps and heaps of rice. Annie's eyes went wide at the sheer amount of food on the table.

"I didn't foresee us having extra guests tonight, so I didn't buy any extra food," Shirou explained as he was placing plates by everyone's setting. "It should still be enough to feed everyone, I think."

"Are you kidding?" Annie exclaimed with a chuckle. "I've never seen this much food in my life. You've definitely made enough."

"You've never seen Fuji-nee eat," Shirou replied with a smirk. Taiga rolled her eyes.

"Let's just dig in already," Taiga proclaimed with a pout, then she proved Shirou's point by piling a massive amount of food onto her plate and chowing down. That made Illya chuckle.

After finally putting the last of the food on the table, Shirou finally rested from his labors and took a seat at the head of the table. Sakura, Annie, and Illya had waited for him to sit down to begin eating, so once he did, everyone joined Taiga (who was nearly done with her first plate) in helping themselves to some food.

Having never used chopsticks before, Annie had a difficult time eating at first, but, being good with her hands, she managed to get the hand of it rather quickly. Illya, on the other hand, struggled quite a bit. Her hands were smaller than most, which made it more difficult, and she kept fumbling both the food and the chopsticks.

"Here," Shirou offered. "You hold it like you hold a pen." He reached over and adjusted the grip of the chopsticks in Illya's hand until it was proper. "Take the top chopstick and hold it between your index and middle fingers, and the bottom one rests on your thumb. Use your index finger to pinch the food with the top chopstick against the bottom. Tight enough to hold it firmly in place, but not too tight, or you'll crush the food."

With a determined set of eyes, Illya tried to follow Shirou's instructions. She tried for a noodle, fumbled it the first time, but then managed to seize it in a firm grip.

"There you go," Shirou complemented with a smile. "It's really not that hard when you get the hang of it."

"Thanks, Shirou," said Illya as she went back in for another noodle.

"This is your first time in Japan, I assume?" Taiga asked.

"You mean you can't tell?" Annie quipped, to the laughter of everyone else.

"This is our first time outside of Germany, actually," Illya clarified. "I myself have never been outside the town where I was born before this trip."

"Wow," Shirou reacted. "How do you like the outside world so far?"

"Oh, you have a beautiful country," Illya assured him. "This city in particular is very quaint."

"Yeah, I suppose we have a nice town over here," Shirou agreed. "It's a lot nicer in the spring and summer, though, not with all this snow around. I can't remember the last time we had this much snow, actually."

"Oh, trust me, the snow is fine by me," said Illya.

"We actually have it a lot worse where we come from," Annie explained. "It snows nearly every day in the winter months."

"I see," Shirou mused. "So you're the ones who brought this snow in from Germany. You just couldn't leave it behind you, could ya?"

Illya broke into laughter. "I guess not."

The five of them sat at the table for around an hour, savoring the delicious food and enjoying each other's company. Shirou turned out to be an easy-going gentleman, always friendly and quick to smile. For all her somberness in the Ryuudou Temple graveyard, Taiga Fujimura turned out to be a giant goofball, and all five of them laughed more than once at her expense during the evening. And Sakura was quiet and reserved, but gentle, polite, and very sweet. And boy did she care for Shirou. All in all, they made for pleasant company, and Annie enjoyed the meal with them.

But no one enjoyed the meal more than Illya. She was eagerly chatting with everyone at the table, especially Shirou. She was quick to laughter the entire evening, and the happy, childlike demeanor that Illya had when Annie had first met her was in full swing. She was extremely relaxed and comfortable the entire night, not at all as though she was in a house of strangers.

As Illya sat at that table next to Annie, Annie realized that this was probably the most normal night she had had in her entire life. All of her problems, all of her concerns, were a half a world away in Germany where they couldn't bother her. Here, in Fuyuki, Japan, Illya was finally able to act like a normal kid, to have a nice, warm dinner with friends and family in a small, cozy dining room instead of a stone hall. This is what true happiness looked like.

"It's getting pretty late," Shirou observed, once the dessert was served and eaten, and the tea drunk. "Where are you two planning on staying tonight?"

"We have a hotel room in Shinto," Annie replied.

"That's a very far walk, especially for this time of night," said Shirou. "Why don't you two stay in the spare bedroom tonight?"

Annie glanced at Illya, who nodded her head vigorously. "All right then." Annie turned back to Shirou. "Thank you, we'll accept your offer."

After bidding Sakura and Taiga a good night, Shirou led Annie and Illya through the house until they reached a spare bedroom. There were two beds in there, both of which were basically thin mattresses on a platform barely above the ground, four fluffy pillows, and two cozy blankets.

"The bathroom's down the hallway," Shirou directed. "If you need anything else, anything at all, don't hesitate to come get me. Good night," he finished with a soft smile, sliding the door closed behind him.

Illya stared at the door after him for several seconds after he left. Finally, she turned back toward Annie, beaming. "Isn't he just a delight?" she proclaimed, eyes beaming. "So kind, so gentle, so willing to help anyone who needs it."

"He really is a great guy," Annie replied absently, deep in thought. She watched Illya and her excitement with a keen eye as she pondered something.

"To think I had grown up hating him all of these years," Illya continued right on, completely unaware of Annie's musings as she prepared her bed. "I really wish I had some of those years back, but there's no need to focus on the past now, I suppose. We have our whole lives to make up for those six years. Maybe he'll visit us in Germany next time!"

"Mmm hmm," Annie mumbled. She closed her eyes and sighed, resigned to the conclusion that she reached.

"I hope that happens soon," said Illya. "I'm really going to miss him when we go back to Germany in two days. I'm sure he'll visit soon, though. I doubt Grandfather would let him stay with us, but maybe he can stay—"

"Illya," Annie cut in, stopping the younger girl like an emergency brake stops a speeding vehicle.

Illya gave her a puzzled look. "What?"

Annie sighed once more. "Illya, I think it would be best of you remain here, with Shirou."

Illya's eyes widened. "What?" she asked again, this time her voice much smaller.

Annie didn't want to continue down this line of conversation. She didn't want to lay out the reasons she had for saying what she said. She wanted to say 'just kidding' and go to bed. Because she didn't want to have to say goodbye to her best friend, her best friend in the whole world.

But her best friend deserved to be happy, and Annie had made a promise.

"Illya," Annie began, trying and failing to mask the pain in her voice. "Look at you, you're so happy here. You have a real family, you'll have many, many friends. You'll go to a school without bullies. You'll live a completely normal life. And I promised you normal life, remember?"

"I—I can have a normal life in Germany!" Illya protested. "I can—"

"In that manor? With that man in charge?" Annie countered. "Illya, we both know you can't go back to that manor. You'll be safe from him here. You can leave the secrecy and magecraft behind and live like a normal girl."

"I don't want it." Illya vigorously shook her head. "I want _you_ in my life, Annie. If Shirou's my brother, then you're like a sister to me."

"Illya," Annie said in a low voice, bottom lip quivering. "Please…please don't make this so hard. I want you to be happy, and you'll be happy here. Please, please just stay."

Illya tried to take calming, deep breaths, but the tears were already on their way. "I'm gonna miss you, Annie." Then she buried her head in Annie's lap and cried softly.

"I know, I'm gonna miss you too," Annie replied shakily, gently stroking Illya's shiny, white hair. "I'm gonna miss you too."

* * *

Two mornings later, Annie stood at the bus station in Fuyuki's Shinto district. She was wearing her winter coat tight around her upper body, and a scarf covered the lower half of her face. Atop her head was a winter hat, and there were gloves upon her hands. By her side was a half-filled suitcase; only her belongings were in it this time.

Standing next to her was Illya, similarly dressed. Her eyes were sad; the usual hopeful gleam they contained was temporarily put out. Shirou, Sakura, and Taiga had also accompanied Annie to the bus station; they patiently stood next to Illya with neutral expressions.

Shirou had immediately agreed to take Illya in; he couldn't have been happier to do so, in fact. Some research was done, and it turned out that Illya qualified for Japanese citizenship since her father was Japanese. Taiga would handle the paperwork, and Illya would be able permanently live in Japan as a full-fledged citizen. Annie was glad that the legal stuff worked out without a problem, that way Illya didn't have to return to Germany at all.

Annie glanced at her younger friend. She looked absolutely downtrodden then, but Annie knew that would change. It was a difficult moment for her, just like it was a difficult moment for Annie, but, ultimately, Annie knew that Illya would be very happy in this country.

Looking at her friend. Annie marveled at how far she had come along since the day they had first met. When they first played in the snow that January Saturday one month ago, Illya was a prisoner. Now, she was a free woman. Deep down, Annie was happy that she was able to play a role inn the bettering of Illya's life.

But as much as Illya owed Annie, Annie owed Illya double. The way that Illya had turned her life for the better was immeasurable. She was, and always would be, her best friend, and her heart ached at having to leave her.

In the distance, the bus that Annie was to board back to Tokyo appeared around a corner, heading for the station. The bright headlights stood out in the otherwise grey, dull day. The sky was a sheet of iron, and flurries fell straight down in the dead air to the ground.

"Well," Annie said slowly, gazing at the bus that approached like oncoming destiny. "It looks like this is it."

Illya wordlessly embraced Annie, pressing her head against Annie jacked and hugging her tight. Annie hugged her back just as tightly. The two remained like that for over a minute, until the bus pulled into the station.

"Come visit as soon as you can," Annie told Illya, letting go of her. "You be good, okay?"

"I will," Illya replied.

Annie handed her bus ticket to the driver, who helped her load her luggage onto the bottom of the bus. Then, as Annie boarded the bus, she turned around to get one last look at everyone. All four of the were waving her goodbye, Shirou, Sakura, and Taiga with smiles, Illya with glistening eyes. Annie waved goodbye one last time before boarding the bus.

From where Annie chose to sit, Illya and the others were still visible. Shirou, Sakura, and Taiga had turned away and were slowly walking back toward Miyama. Illya, however, was still standing at the station, eyes still trained on the bus as if that would stop it from leaving.

With a rumble, the bus lurched into motion, pulling out of the station. Annie gazed at Illya as the bus drove away from the station. Illya, in turn, followed the bus with her eyes. The girl in the snow, with snow falling all around her, receded from sight as the bus continued down the road. As it did, Annie could see Illya wave goodbye one last time. Annie longingly touched her palm to the window in reply.

Then the bus turned a corner, and Illya was gone.


	22. The Snow Melts

When the plane touched down in Munich early in the morning, all the snow was gone. A freak heat wave had hit over the weekend that Annie was in Fuyuki, apparently, melting all of the snow. The heat hadn't left, either; the pilot reported the temperature being nearly 20 degrees Celsius out there.

Indeed, when Annie went outside after retrieving her luggage from the carousel, she had to remove her jacket because of the heat. Annie was shocked to feel such warmth, and to see that no snow covered the ground, in early February. It felt extremely off to her. Not that long ago, she didn't have much love for snow, but over the past few weeks the snow had grown on her. She found herself missing it.

Shaking the weather thoughts out of her mind, Annie hailed a cab. She had business to attend to the morning.

Annie hopped in the taxi and gave the cabbie an address. Thirty minutes later, the cabbie pulled up next to a large graveyard in the midst of Munich's city limits. Thanking him, Annie gave the cabbie the ride's fare and a tip, which the man accepted despite the strange glare he was giving her.

In the dim light of the early dawn, Annie entered the cemetery. It had been so long that Annie almost forgot how to get there, but, deep down, she knew exactly where his resting place was. After a tiny bit of wandering Annie finally pulled up, luggage still in hand, next to a small grave with writing undiscernible in the dim light. She didn't need to read it, though, she knew exactly what the gravestone said, as if carved in the back of her mind.

"Hey, dad," Annie said aloud. She didn't care speaking aloud; there was no one in the cemetery to hear her.

"I know I haven't visited in a while," she continued softly. "I thought that by steering clear of here, I would be able to blunt the pain of your passing, but it didn't. I ended up penning in emotions that shouldn't have been pent up, and I'm sorry.

"I just wanted you to know that I really do miss you, even if I haven't come here in a while, and that there's no hard feelings. My best friend taught me what it's like to harbor resentment against one's dad, and I didn't want that with you. You were a great father, and my life is not the same without you.

"I don't know if you're listening, but I hope you are. And I hope you can forgive me, too."

With that, Annie bent down, slowly, and kissed the gravestone. And from then on, she promised to visit the grave at least once a week. Her father deserved that much at least.

Once that was done, Annie decided that she ought to return home and prepare for school. She was exhausted from her flight, but she had missed too much school as it was, given her suspension and then her trip. If she missed much more, she would fall seriously behind. So Annie hailed another cab and headed for home.

On the way, Annie felt a sharp pain in her chest when the taxi passed the path into Einzbern Forest. Unlike many days ago, there was no little girl frolicking in the snow. There wasn't even snow, just soggy, brown grass. The scene just felt completely wrong, and Annie was glad to pass it by.

Finally, her home appeared around the corner. Annie felt a tiny bit of relief upon seeing it; she had missed her own kitchen, food, and, most of all, her own bed. The way the house stood all lonely and empty, though, made her sad. It was back to dinners and breakfasts on her own, it seemed.

The inside of the house was much the same. It was lighter outside (the sun had just risen) but the inside of the house was still dark and shadowy. She could feel the emptiness in every room, from the living room to the kitchen. Illya was a tiny girl, but her absence loomed larger than a skyscraper. Annie longed for the days when she would frequently hear knocks on the door, with a smiling, white-haired girl behind it.

As if on cue, there was a soft knock at Annie's door. Annie whirled in shock, eyes wide. "Illya," she said expectantly, before berating herself for her stupidity. Of course it wasn't Illya. But then, who was it? No one else had ever knocked on that door before that Annie could remember.

When Annie opened the door, she saw two women standing there that Annie thought looked vaguely familiar. They were both fairly tall, about the same height, with the same white-colored hair. One had her hair cut short, no further than her jawline. She was dressed in a pink tank top and jeans. The other had much longer hair, but tied back in a ponytail, and she was wearing a nice blouse and skirt, with high-heeled shoes.

"Can I help you?" Annie asked, confused.

"It's good to see you too, Miss Leonhart," the one with longer hair replied dryly. Upon hearing her voice, Annie placed these two right away.

"Sella? Leysritt?" Annie asked, astounded. "You two look so different! What happened?"

"Lord Jubstacheit bade us give you this message from him," Sella explained in her usual, businesslike tone. Leysritt reached inside her pocket and brought out an envelope, which she handed to Annie with two hands and a bow of her head.

"Acht wrote a letter to me?" Annie mused aloud. Immediately she grew nervous. Was he going to demand that she return Illya to him? Would he seek retribution for putting her out of her reach? Acht was a very powerful man, and he could make Annie's life very difficult if he wanted to.

With trepidation, Annie opened the letter and read to herself:

 _Miss Leonhart,_

 _I am writing to inform you that you have beaten me. You successfully took advantage of my foolish lenience, my desire for the Holy Grail, and my lack of strict observance over my granddaughter to steal her away from me. Once I discovered where you had gone, I knew I had no chance of getting her back, and I am gracious in defeat._

 _Illyasviel was the House of Einzbern's trump card. She was our best and last hope of attaining the Holy Grail that we have long sought. Now that she is gone, there is no hope left. Part of me hoped she would remain loyal to her family, but there's too much of her father's traitor blood in her._

 _Now, the Einzbern line will fade from existence. When historians of magecraft look back, decades from now, and examine the fall of the Einzberns, they will detect two root causes. Kiritsugu Emiya started the downward spiral, and you finished it. Kiritsugu Emiya and Annie Leonhart, the banes of the House of Einzbern._

 _When Justeaze discovered the Third Magic all those years ago, which was my task to achieve, and all of our hard work was shown to be useless and waste of time, all of my fellow Einzbern mages concluded that there was no more hope to their toils, and they ended their own lives. But I kept on, plugging away at the dream that was the Holy Grail and the Third Magic it contained. Now, though, I must concur with my deceased brethren: there is no hope left. You have ended it, and you have ended me as well._

"Wait," Annie asked aloud, "so, he…"

Sella nodded. "Jubstacheit von Einzbern is no more," she proclaimed. She seemed neither happy nor sad at the development; she simply stated it with the neutrality of any other fact of life. "That is why we are in such clothing. We are no longer Einzbern servants."

The thought of Acht's suicide weighed on her for a short moment, but then she dismissed him from her mind. She would not let him guilt her into accepting the blame for his downfall. His own desires had blinded him, made him do unspeakable acts to his own blood. He wasn't worth another thought.

But the rest of it, about the ending of the Einzberns, Annie refused to believe. Illya was still alive and well, as were these two right in front of her. They would keep the family name alive, and even lead it down a new path. One filled with joy, life, and happiness, and not a vicious pursuit of a cursed magical object.

"So what are you two going to do now?" Annie asked them worriedly. She knew what homelessness was like, and she didn't want these two to experience it.

"We'll move on with our lives," Sella explained. "Tomorrow I start a job as a secretary for a private medical practice in Munich, and Leysritt…."

"I'm still looking for a job," she explained with a simple smile. "We used whatever valuables we could find the in manor to buy an apartment in the city! It's really nice."

"That's wonderful," Annie replied. "I'm really glad for you two. And I'm glad you don't have to wear those ridiculous uniforms anymore. Who knew you two were so pretty?"

Leysritt gasped, clearly pleased with the compliment. Sella tried to keep her neutral tone, but even she raised her lips slightly at Annie's words.

"Tell me," Sella asked, serious once again. "Will Illya be happy with her new life overseas?"

"I have no doubt."

This time, Sella smiled for real. "That's all I needed to hear. We really love that little girl of ours. Thank you for giving her a better life."

"You two take care of yourselves," Annie said. "Come and visit any time you want."

"You as well," Sella replied. Then she and Leys turned walked away, ready to continue their new lives. "Did you hear her?" Annie overheard Leysritt gush. "She said that I'm pretty!"

Annie chuckled briefly before going back inside her house. She changed her clothes into appropriate attire for school. She brushed her teeth and cooked some scrambled eggs for herself for breakfast, scarfing them down quickly, as she was running a bit behind schedule.

As she was about to leave, though, she stopped and looked at herself in the mirror. Standing before the mirror, she paused to study her appearance. Then she reached behind her head and removed the band that kept her hair in a bun, letting her hair fall past her shoulders. Illya was right, she looked better like that anyway.

She walked inside the school building five minutes before the first class was to begin. Many of the kids were hanging out outside the building, enjoying the unexpectedly warm, sunny weather. Their loud chatter filled the air both outside and inside, yet many of them stopped their talking when she passed, going quiet and staring at her with surprised eyes for reasons Annie could not guess. Annie bristled slightly. She hated getting stared at.

When Annie walked into the classroom, Mr. Schultz was not present, but most of the class was. And, like everyone outside, the students in the classroom all stopped talking and stared at her, some with mouths agape, as soon as they laid eyes on her. For the briefest moment, there was stunned silence in the room. Then, something happened that Annie completely did not expect.

"Annie!" Armin shouted, running over from his seat toward her. His eyes were wide and worried. "Where have you been? Nobody's seen you in five days!"

Annie stepped back; her eyes were wide now too. "What—what do you mean?"

"After your suspension on Thursday, I went to your house to check on you, to see if you were okay," Armin explained. "But you didn't answer. I came back on Friday, and you still didn't answer."

"I—I was in Japan," Annie explained, slightly defensively. "Illya has family in Japan, so I took her to see them. Is that so bad?"

"You don't understand, we filed a missing person report with the police," Mikasa explained. "They've been looking for you since Saturday. No one could find you."

"You could have told someone where you were going," Eren told her. "A lot of us were worried!"

"Worried…" Annie trailed off. "You guys were worried about me?"

Annie shuffled slowly past Armin and sat down in her seat at the side of the room. She stared emptily at the floor, trying to comprehend what she had just heard. Around her, the students began to quietly start their conversations again.

"Hey," Armin said softly, sitting at the desk next to her. The rest of his friends gathered behind him. "Are you okay?"

"I didn't mean to cause such a commotion," Annie stated. "I just wanted to get away for a few days. Get away from…all this. It was…it was…" she trailed off.

Armin sighed. "I suppose that's my fault. It was wrong of me to badger you constantly about the forest. I should have respected your privacy, and I'm really sorry."

Annie looked up at him. He looked like he really meant it.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry too," Eren piped up.

"Yeah, me too," Sasha agreed. The rest of them all murmured their apologies for giving Annie and Illya a hard time. Annie was really surprised to see it. Very few people were ever this kind to her.

"No, it's me who should apologize to you," Annie replied. "You guys weren't the ones bullying Illya by dumping out her locker, and I just assumed it was you. I shouldn't have threatened you like that. I'm truly sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Armin replied with a smile. "Forgive and forget, right?"

"Yeah forgive and forget."

Annie looked around at these people, at each of them in turn. These people who were actually worried about her when they thought she'd gone missing. These people who admitted that they'd wronged her, and readily accepted her apology when she had wronged them. _Maybe…maybe they're not so bad after all._

"So, we're going to go stop at that café on the way home from school, you know the one," Armin offered her genuinely. "Would you like to join us?"

The old Annie Leonhart would have refused. The old Annie Leonhart was sad and alone in this world, with no one to turn to and everyone hostile or indifferent toward her. But then a little girl named Illya appeared in her life, and she was there for her. She laughed with her, she lent her shoulder to her, and she taught her the value of friendship. And thanks to her, the old Annie Leonhart was dead and buried.

"Yeah," Annie replied with a smile. "That sounds great."

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 _A/N: Stay tuned for the epilogue in the coming days!_


	23. Epilogue

It was a cold, blustery day in the beginning of April. The wind had really picked up, blowing through the town at high-speed gusts. The temperature had dropped to around 0 degrees Celsius, and there were even snow flurries falling from the cloudy sky. Annie smiled to herself. The weather couldn't have been more appropriate.

Glancing at her watch, Annie checked the time. 1:30. It should be any minute now. The flight landed at noon, which meant that Leysritt and Sella would arrive at the airport at around 12:45 to pick up the incomers. It was about 45 minutes from the airport to Annie's house, so…

Sure enough, a limousine, the one that Annie had ridden in tens of times, came bouncing along the road toward Annie's house. As soon as it got within sight, Annie waved her hand back and forth in greeting. She could only imagine how a certain occupant of that limo was reacting. Probably bouncing with excitement in her seat, Annie figured.

No sooner had the limo come to a stop that a small figure with white hair came zooming out. Annie hardly got a chance to look at her before her arms were wrapped around Annie, enveloping her in a hug tight enough to crack a football player's ribs. Despite getting the wind knocked out of her, though, Annie hugged right back.

"My god, you've gotten stronger!" Annie comment once Illya pulled away. "Japan definitely agrees with you."

"Thanks," Illya giggled. "You let your hair down!"

"Yep. A good friend gave me that advice."

Illya laughed. "It's good to see you, Annie."

"You too, I'm glad this worked out."

Leysritt and Sella exited the limousine from the front row, followed by four more people from the main compartment behind it. Shirou gave Annie a long-distance wave as he dragged some luggage out of the trunk. Taiga looked excited to be there, whereas Sakura patiently helped Shirou with the baggage. A fourth girl, Rin, who Illya had become friends with at school, also accompanied them.

As soon as Annie got the chance, she had written a letter to Illya about what happened to her grandfather. Since then, the two had maintained a frequent correspondence. In a letter around a month ago, Illya mentioned that she had a break from school in early April, and suggested she come visit Germany. When Shirou found out, he decided to make a big trip of it. Sakura and Rin pitched in most of the money (their families were very wealthy, apparently) and here they were.

Annie went down to limo to help with the luggage and direct everyone into her house. She had no idea where she was going to fit everybody, but they could deal with that later. Annie gave Sakura and Taiga quick hugs and introduced herself to Rin, who introduced herself back.

"Illya's talked so much about you, I feel like I know you already," Rin said. Her voice wasn't overly warm, but she was polite.

"That so?" Annie asked, looking back at Illya, who was chatting with Leysritt and Sella. "Hey, tell me for real. How's she doing over there?"

Rin shrugged. "She's doing great," she answered honestly. "Struggling a bit with the language barrier and all, but Emiya's really helping her pull through with that. Otherwise, she's doing just fine."

Annie nodded. "Good."

"Alright," Shirou grunted, pulling a particularly large suitcase out of the trunk. "That's the last of 'em."

"You can just leave them inside by the door, I'll figure out the sleeping arrangements later," Annie instructed. "For now, why don't we grab something to eat?"

"Before we do that," Illya piped up, "I—I want to go pay a visit."

Annie looked at her hard. She knew exactly the place Illya was speaking about. "Are you sure?"

Illya nodded. "Yeah. I want to see it one last time."

"Okay," Annie said softly. "Okay, we can go just the two of us for a few minutes."

"No, I want everyone to come," Illya clarified, eyes serious. "All of them. It's time this town's little secret was blown wide open."

Annie raised her eyebrows. The secret that she had fought so hard to keep hidden, and now Illya wanted to reveal it to everyone. _It's for the best,_ Annie convinced herself, but she still had one question.

"Illya," she asked, "who do you mean by 'everyone?'"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, all of them were walking down that pathway into Einzbern Forest. All 19 of them. Annie and Illya were at the head of the pack. Behind Illya were Shirou and Taiga, Sakura and Rin. Leys and Sella were off to Illya's side. And walking behind and to the right of Annie were Armin and the rest of Annie's new friends.

"Annie, are you sure about this?" Armin asked timidly.

"Yes," Illya answered for her friend. "I want you to know where I've been living these past fourteen years."

"It's really fine," Armin insisted. "I told you, I really don't care to see it anymore."

"Liar," Annie replied with a smirk. "Come on, this is a question that's been eating at you for ages."

"Well…yeah, fine," Armin relented grumpily, but Annie could tell he was happy.

The light snow continued to fall, but wind died down, and it wasn't so cold, so the walk was somewhat pleasant. Annie was expecting Illya to be nervous, but, to her surprise, Illya was very calm and relaxed, like she was about to close the book on some unfinished business and never look back.

As for herself, Annie felt herself tensing up. Images of those bodies kept flashing through her mind. Those torn up bodies, the glowing blue water stained red with blood, those lifeless red eyes staring up at her from that pool.

There was also the matter of Acht. More specifically, what was left of him. Would they walk in to see his rotting, self-harmed body just lying around? Annie hoped not. That would not be a very pleasant image.

Finally, after walking for a little while, Einzbern Manor appeared above its little rise, surround by pine trees. It looked as stark and grey as ever, even more so now, as there were no warm-lit windows indicating a hearth and a home. The double doors to the manor were sealed shut.

Everyone save Annie, Illya, Leysritt, and Sella were shocked to see this castle in the middle of the woods.

"I knew it," Armin said breathlessly. "I knew there was a home up here."

"This is where my father lived for nine years?" Shirou asked wondrously, staring at the manor's slim towers.

Illya ignored their questions. She had her eyes trained straight on the doors, which she slowly ambled toward. She laid one hand on the wooden hand, caressing it slowly. Then she pulled the door open and disappeared inside. Annie and the rest followed, all of them with still breaths.

It was exactly as Annie remembered. The main hall still had its tall ceiling. There was still a curving stairway covered in red carpet spiraling up to the second floor. And there was still that hall under the stairs leading to the castle's bowls and _that_ room. Illya was nowhere to be found; she had already disappeared into the manor somewhere.

"Feel free to wander around everybody," Annie announced. "But, um, I wouldn't go down that hallway under the stairs if I were you." The others did as Annie said and dispersed, each taking to a different corner of the castle.

"Don't worry," Sella whispered in Annie's ear. "Leysritt and I cleaned up before we left."

Clearly, they had. The entire castle looked spotless, like it had been when people were living here. It also looked stripped of all of its positions. Leysritt did mention that she and Sella had taken all things of value from here and used them to buy their apartment in Munich, but they really cleaned the place out.

"I'm going to go to Illya," Annie told them.

"You know where she is?" Leysritt asked.

Annie nodded. "I do."

While everyone was exploring the main floor, Annie ascended the steps to the second floor and followed the stone hallway. If Illya was going to be anywhere, it would be in her old room. Sure enough, Annie found standing over her old dresser. Unlike the rest of the house, it looked like Leysritt and Sella left this room largely untouched.

"Reminiscing?" Annie asked her, softly so as not to startle her.

Illya shook her head. "Just picking up a couple of things." Annie glanced at Illya's hands and noticed that they held two portraits. One was of Irisviel, the same one that was hanging on Illya's wall before she moved to Japan, the other was one of Kiritsugu that Annie had never seen before.

"I have some good news," Illya said suddenly. I wanted to tell you in private, and in person."

Annie arched an eyebrow. "What news?"

"There was more to my father's letter than what you initially read that evening in the Ryuudou Temple graveyard," she explained. "You never turned it over to the back page."

"Really? What did it say?"

Illya smiled softly. "My father, he placed explosives deep underground by Fuyuki's leylines, which will cut off their mana supply. When that happens, it'll destroy the system of the Holy Grail War."

"What? Illya, that's great news!" Annie exclaimed. She ran over and gave her a hug. "That's excellent!"

"I know," Illya agreed. "I'll actually get to live a normal life, just like you said."

"I'm very happy for you," Annie told her. "Kiritsugu really pulled through for you."

"Yeah, he did," Illya said softly. She took the portrait of him and held it in one hand. "For me, and for her."

Illya hoisted the portrait of her mother in her other hand. "My mother died alone and helpless, but wherever she is right now, she must be happy knowing that she was the last Einzbern to die for the Holy Grail." Illya pressed both portraits against her chest, as if hugging them.

"Things have changed a lot since I first met you," Annie commented.

"Change is good," Illya replied. "Especially when it's for the better."

And how things have changed for the better. Three months ago, Illya was chained to her own fate. She was trapped in this manor and trapped in her grandfather's designs, while Annie was alone, parentless, friendless, and sad. Now, they were both free, with many friends to lean on, and bright futures ahead of them.

"You ready to leave all this behind?" Annie asked her best friend.

Illya smiled determinedly. "I'm ready."

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 _A/N: Well, that's a wrap, folks! I first envisioned_ Friends in the Snow _around a year ago, and to see it finally reach its conclusion is really amazing. I'm really proud of how this story turned out, and I hope it was as much of a pleasure for you to read as it was for me to write._

 _Thanks as always to all of those who have read up to this point, especially those that followed and reviewed (even the negative ones!). If no one read my work there'd be no point of writing anything, so I'm glad to have had thousands of readers (yes, thousands; I checked the stats) check out this story. Entertaining people is what makes writing so great, and I hope I did that for most of you._

 _When I initially began posting chapters for this story, a lot of you asked why Annie or the other AoT characters were even in it. Why not just make it a story with an OC as the main character? It's a very fair point that people made, so I thought I'd address it quickly. The very first idea I had that eventually turned into_ Friends in the Snow _was that I wanted to write a story specifically about Annie. The idea to connect it to Fate came way after, and I wasn't going to toss the main inspiration for this story right out the window. Annie is my favorite AoT character, and I'm very interested to see what happens to her in the actual AoT story (no spoilers past Episode 50 of the anime please!)._

 _Lastly, I've gotten a couple of questions about a potential sequel. I briefly entertained the notion of writing a sequel to_ Friends in the Snow, _one that had fewer feels and more action, but after considering it I decided that I like where the characters ended up as of the conclusion of this story, and that I am heavily leaning toward not writing a sequel. Then again, if you guys really want to see Annie and Illya's tale continue, feel free to let me know via leaving a review, and if enough readers make their voices heard, I'm might be willing to reconsider. At the very least, a potential sequel won't come until after the release of all three Heaven's Feel movies (no spoilers for that either!)._

 _Well, that's about all I had to say. Even if I don't end up writing a_ Friends in the Snow _sequel, this won't be the last you hear from me. I'm sure I'll think up a new fanfic idea at some point soon. I usually do. Until then, so long, and thanks again for joining me on Annie and Illya's journey._


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